USA-Portugal World Cup match sets viewership marks in United States

The United States' 2-2 World Cup draw with Portugal is almost certainly the most-viewed soccer match ever in the United States.

The Nielsen Company said yesterday that the gripping game was seen by an average of 24.7 million viewers Sunday evening on ESPN and Univision. That matches it with the 24.7 million U.S. viewers who watched the 2010 World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands.

ESPN said an additional 490,000 people streamed coverage of the game on their mobile devices. Streaming numbers for 2010 weren't available, but it's unlikely it reached that level. -- AP