The United States Men's National Team's FIFA World Cup match against Turkiye drew record-breaking television ratings, outperforming major domestic sporting events.
Data cited by Sports Business Journal shows the Fox Sports broadcast attracted slightly over 17 million viewers, with a peak of 19.5 million concurrent viewers.
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This audience surpassed Games 1 and 2 of the 2026 NBA Finals, which recorded 16.9 million and 16.4 million viewers respectively, as well as the SEC championship game at 16.9 million viewers.
The preliminary match ranks as the second-most-watched soccer telecast in American history, trailing only the US's opening World Cup fixture against Paraguay, which brought in 18 million viewers.
Kansas City emerged as the leading media market for the game, followed by San Diego, St. Louis, Denver, and Dallas-Fort Worth.
Knockout Stage Begins
The knockout stage continues on July 1, 2026, featuring a Round of 32 match between England and the DR Congo in Atlanta, alongside Belgium facing Senegal in Seattle.
England manager Thomas Tuchel faces lineup challenges due to injuries affecting right backs Reece James and Jarrell Quansah.
"They're getting closer and closer," said Tuchel. "The race was close even to make it into my squad this time.
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So we need to make sure that we have more matches."
The DR Congo enters the match after holding Portugal to a 1-1 draw and defeating Uzbekistan to secure their first-ever knockout round appearance.
"It is true we are looking at a difficult match, but in no way insurmountable," said DR Congo coach Sébastien Desabre.
"We have proven this against teams that were supposed to be superior to us."
The United States team is scheduled to play its own Round of 32 knockout fixture against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Bay Area at 5 p.
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m. PT.
