Spain, Football
Spain’s historic World Cup football win on Sunday evening, local time in South Africa, has become the most watched men’s soccer match of all time in the USA, according to ESPN network.
“It was evident from the overwhelmingly positive reaction just how much fans were drawn to the spectacle of this global sports event,” said John Skipper, Executive Vice President of Content for ESPN.
Prior to the nail-biting final between Spain and The Netherlands, the most watched soccer match on Tv had been the US loss to Ghana, who won that match 2-1.
Only one other soccer match has drawn bigger crowds that Sunday evening’s match. That was the women’s World Cup final between the US and China in 1999. That match on June 26 had 17.975 million TV viewers, as opposed to Sunday’s match that had 15.5 million.
The final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup took place at the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. Neither Spain or The Netherlands had won the World Cup before.
“…the pinnacle of soccer fame…”
After normal time there was no score, so the match went into extra time. Just four minutes before the end of extra time, Andres Iniesta of Spain scored the only goal of the match, propelling Spain to the pinnacle of soccer fame.
The Spanish team returned to Spain on Monday afternoon. They were presented at the royal palace meeting all kinds of signatories, before touring Madrid in an open-topped bus, cheered on by an estimated five million people who had turned out to see them.
It was one of the biggest parties Madrid has ever seen, and Madrid is a city well known for its enjoyment of fiestas.
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