Women's Triumph Was Most-Watched US Soccer Game Ever

The 5-2 demolition of Japan that made the US the first country to win the Women's World Cup three times was America's greatest soccer triumph in more ways than one: It was seen by a total of 26.7 million US viewers—25.4 million on Fox and 1.27 on Telemundo—making it the most-watched soccer game, men's or women's, in US history, ESPN reports. The audience topped that of the deciding game of this year's NBA finals and of Game 7 in last year's World Series, reports the New York Times, which notes that viewers didn't tune out early despite the US taking a 4-0 lead within 16 minutes. (On Twitter, some of the gloating got ugly.)