The July 22 game between Vietnam and the US during the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 in New Zealand drew 6.26 million viewers, making it the most-watched football telecast in the US since last year’s men’s World Cup final, according to Fox Sports.
It said that the game, the first of the US team at World Cup 2023, averaged 5.26 million viewers on FOX, making it the second-most watched group stage telecast since FOX started covering it in 2015.
The largest Women’s World Cup group stage broadcast on FOX remains the 2019 US-Chile match, which averaged 5.33 million.
FOX and Nielsen said it is a 99% increase over the first US group stage match four years ago in France against Thailand.
The Vietnamese team’s brave performance won the hearts of Vietnamese fans everywhere, despite losing 0-3 to the reigning world champions US in their first group match in Auckland, New Zealand.
Two goals scored by Sophia Smith in the first half and another by captain Lindsey Horan in the second half sealed the US’s victory.
However, as coach Mai Duc Chung said before the match: "It's not about the result, but the way we play, the mentality against an opponent at this magnitude," and the Golden Star Women Warriors’ brave performance won the hearts of Vietnamese fans everywhere.
Vietnam will have five days to recover before facing Portugal on July 27. The US, on the other hand, will play against Holland next in a rematch of the 2019 Women's World Cup Final.
