USA-England most-watched soccer game since 1994 |
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Sports network ESPN said the USA's 1-1 draw with England in its opening game of the World Cup was the most-watched game for a national soccer team since 1994.
The match, shown on ABC, averaged 13 million viewers and attracted the biggest US audience for any game at the tournament in South Africa so far, according to Bloomberg. The game drew the most viewers since USA-Brazil in the round of 16 at the 1994 World Cup, held on home soil. Disney-owned ESPN and ABC have averaged 4.94 million viewers through five games, more than double the figures for the corresponding fixtures in the 2006 World Cup. Friday morning's match between Mexico and South Africa attracted 5.4 million viewers on Spanish-language Univision and an additional 2.9 million on ESPN. The audience was Univision's second-most watched World Cup game since 1994. The first five games averaged roughly 8.1 million viewers when combining English and Spanish-language broadcasts, up from 4.5 million in 2006. |
