First U.S. Women’s World Cup match draws combined audience of 6.26 million on Fox, Telemundo #U.S #Womens #World #Cup #match #draws #combined #audience #million #Fox #Telemundo

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The United States’ 3-0 victory over Vietnam in the Women’s World Cup drew 6.26 million viewers, making it the most-watched soccer telecast in the U.S. since last year’s Men’s World Cup final.

It is also the largest combined English- and Spanish-language audience for a U.S. women’s group stage match.

Saturday afternoon’s match in Auckland, New Zealand — which kicked off at 9 p.m. EDT Friday night — averaged 5,261,000 viewers on Fox, making it the second-most watched group stage telecast since Fox started covering it in 2015. Fox and Nielsen said the audience peaked at 6.5 million for the final 15 minutes.

New Zealand players pose for a group photo before the Women's World Cup soccer match between New Zealand and Norway in Auckland, New Zealand, Thursday, July 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Cornaga)

A man has been charged with arson after several small fires broke out Saturday night at the downtown hotel where New Zealand’s national team is staying for the Women’s World Cup.

Haiti's goalkeeper Kerly Theus, left, claims a cross ahead of England's Alessia Russo during the Women's World Cup Group D soccer match between England and Haiti in Brisbane, Australia, Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

Haiti has given its fans a boost with its spirited performance during a Women’s World Cup debut that came up just short in a 1-0 loss to European champion England.

Denmark's Amalie Vangsgaard , center, celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Women's World Cup Group D soccer match between Denmark and China at Perth Rectangular Stadium, in Perth, Australia, Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Gary Day)

Amalie Vangsgaard scored in the 90th minute as Denmark beat China 1-0 at the Women’s World Cup in Perth.

Norway's Ada Hegerberg makes an overhead kick during the Women's World Cup soccer match between New Zealand and Norway in Auckland, New Zealand, Thursday, July 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Cornaga)

The largest Women’s World Cup group stage broadcast on Fox remains the 2019 U.S.-Chile match, which averaged 5,337,000.

Fox and Nielsen said it is a 99% increase over the first U.S. group stage match four years ago in France against Thailand, which started at 2:30 p.m. EDT.

The Spanish-language audience of 1 million across Telemundo, Peacock, Universo and Telemundo streaming platforms was the most-watched for a group-stage match and was surpassed only by the 2015 and ’19 final. The Spanish audience was also nearly double what it was for the 2019 Thailand match.

Telemundo is a division of Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal.

The total audience numbers also include 307,831 who watched via streaming on English- and Spanish-language streaming.

The next U.S. match is Wednesday night against the Netherlands.