The USA against The Netherlands was one of the most highly anticipated showdowns of the World Cup group stage. The two sides have a long history, having faced off in the 2019 World Cup final in France and in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics. On both occasions the USA came out victorious.

As well as the 30,000 people present in the Wellington Regional Stadium, millions tuned in from home. In fact, the match attracted a staggering 6,429,000 audience on Fox, which saw it become the most-watched Women’s World Cup match in the history on English-language television. The highest figure registered over the course of the game across all platforms on Fox was 8,451,000 viewers.

It wasn’t just a historic day for the English-language channels. It also broke the previous record for the largest viewership of a Women’s World Cup group game in Spanish. There was a grand total of 1.51 million viewers across the platforms Telemundo, Peacock, Universo and Telemundo. That’s also the second biggest virtual crowd in any stage of the competition in history.

There was very little to separate the two sides over the course of the 90 minutes, which was reflected in the 1-1 scoreline. The USWNT must beat Portugal in their final game of group E if they want to avoid what would be an unexpected and historic elimination from the group stages. They currently have four points, having beaten Vietnam 3-0 in the first game and drawing to the Dutch in Wellington in the second.