World Cup 2026: Team USA's match against Paraguay records highest viewership rating ever

The U.S. men's national team had an impressive performance on Friday night, showing its potential for World Cup 2026. In the first group match held at Sopay Stadium in Inglewood, California, the United States defeated Paraguay 4-1 with aggressive play. Team USA's four goals were the most goals scored in a World Cup game, and with an average of 15,986,000 viewers watching on Fox, Fox One and Tubi, the game was the most-watched US men's national team broadcast of all time. The match also had the highest viewer ratings of any World Cup group match broadcast in English in the United States. The game drew 18,860,000 viewers from 10:45-11:00 PM ET, Fox said. The average viewership was a 106% increase compared to 7,763,000 viewers during the 1-1 draw with Wales at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. According to Fox's viewership report, it is based on initial data from Nielsen, Adobe Analytics, and data from Fox's streaming service Tubi. Nielsen recently switched to a new methodology that includes external viewing, which had a significant impact on audience figures for this World Cup. This World Cup is hinting at the possibility of breaking various viewership records from the start. In the opening match between Mexico and South Africa, an average of 6,309,000 people watched the match, and Mexico reportedly won 2-0. This is also the World Cup opening match with the largest number of viewers in history for an English broadcast. --- ## Related Articles 1. [World Cup 2026: Controversy over red card in Canada-Bosnia match](https://taegeukgoal.com/ko/news/2026--4) 2. [Mundial 2026](https://azkalsgoal.com/fil/news/klose-inaasahan-kong-si-messi-o-si-mbappe-ang-babasag-sa-aking-rekord-sa-world-cup)