Team USA’s 2-1 victory over England on Tuesday in the semifinals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup punched the defending champs’ ticket to the final and also gave Fox its best result of the tournament.
The game in Lyon, France drew 7.03 million total viewers to the Fox’s live broadcast that kicked off in midday (3 PM ET/noon PT), making it the most watched soccer game on English-language TV since last year’s men’s World Cup final.
Combined with Fox’s streaming platforms, the game drew 7.39M viewers, peaking at 9 million viewers as the U.S. held off England, which was ranked No. 3 in the world. It finished as the tournament’s most streamed game to date.
Christen Press and Alex Morgan scored the goals for the U.S. against England, which was playing for its first berth in a Women’s World Cup final. (The game, which aired on BBC One in the UK, peaked with an audience of 11.7M, making it the most watched show there of the year.)
Press had started in place of midfielder Megan Rapinoe, who had scored in each of the previous games but was held out because of a hamstring injury suffered during the Americans’ quarterfinal victory over host France. She is expected to return for the final.
The U.S. plays the winner of today’s Netherlands-Sweden semifinal on Sunday in Lyon, with the game to air live on Fox beginning at 11 AM ET/8 AM PT. The Americans are in their fifth final, having won previously in 1991, 1999 and 2015.
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