Is U.S.-England "The Most Anticipated Soccer Match in U.S. History!!!"?

The real test will be the next game, which will be a weekday morning,

 

With it being a 9 AM (CT) start against Slovenia, I'm guessing there will only be a fraction of the fan attention here in the U.S. You'll still see a lot of fans hitting the bars to watch, and being on Friday will help, but it will be nothing close to what they had today. The fact that today's game was against England at 1:30 on Saturday played a big part in the attraction.

 

I would venture the Colombia "own-goal" game in 1994 (and the Brazil Round of 16 game in the Rose Bowl on the 4th of July) were more highly-anticipated than this one, as were the Mexico/Germany games in 2002.

The Germany QF was, by far, the biggest match in U.S. soccer history.

Today's game? Big, but mostly ESPN overhype to justify their overspending on the WC rights (and try to boost their Euroleague soccer broadcast ratings).

 

I don't know if the game was the biggest ever, but a win would have been a Bolt-style shot to the arm soccer needs in the United States.
A tie is better than a loss, but for non-soccer fans, who don't understand draws, it is a little hard to explain.

 

Historical past, England considered one of the top teams in the world, the amount of EPL games shown here and knowing this was the opener for six months are what made this the most anticipated match. Probably less than a week before the '02 QF and R16 '94 - not enough time to build up the hype machine - especially in '94.

 

True that.

 

Except for the fact Game 6 was the most watched Stanley Cup game in the US since '74.

 

Biggest in terms of where it was in the biggest tournament, and the number of fans who jumped on the bandwagon . . errr . . ."got interested"?

Perhaps.

Biggest in terms of importance to U.S. soccer's development?

Paul Caligiuri has something to say about that.

 

Well, yeah, when you consider the investment they made, it's perfectly logical. You can't spend millions on something and then not help people know when it's on. The bigger ratings they get, the better off they will be.

And, yeah, they promo the NBA Finals, Wimbledon, baseball and everything else they show, too.

 

It's one thing to let your viewers know when it's on. It's another thing to beat them over the head with it until it strains your credibility (look who just dropped by the booth!) and causes a backlash.

 

Claddagh in the Brewery District? That's where I got my crash course in how to be a good U.S. supporter before the Mexino match.