The US at the World Cup

The best fake news shows on cable have weighed in on Saturday’s draw with England. In case you missed them here’s the segment from The Daily Show and here’s the segment from The Colbert Report.

Wondering what the ratings were for the USA v England match? The early ratings numbers based on viewership of the ABC broadcast indicated it was the fifth most watched World Cup game in US soccer history with a 7.3 household rating (8.4 million households) and 12.9 million viewers. You can add to that number the 3.8 million who watched the Spanish language broadcast on Univision. That’s a total of 16.7 million, making it the most watched first round World Cup match ever. Not included in the total are the numbers from ESPN Deportes, online viewers on ESPN3 and, perhaps most importantly, those who watched the game at bars and other public venues. As the numbers stand right now, that’s more people than watched the first four games of the NBA finals and all of the Stanley Cup Finals games. Pretty damn impressive when you consider that the NBA and NHL games all took place in prime time. Through Sunday, there has been 63% increase in ratings and 80% increase in viewership compared to the 2006 World Cup.

In England, the peak viewership was nearly 20 million. SUCK IT ENGLAND!

The AP is reporting that Tim Howard is recovering better than expected after it was determined that his ribs were bruised, not broken. US Soccer said on Monday that he is expected to play against Slovenia on Friday. An entire nation sighs in relief.

Jay DeMeritt’s performance against England is drawing attention from English clubs. KA-CHING!

The US entry in the RoboCup, the World Cup for soccer robots that will commence next week, has gotten a new algorithm. And not a moment too soon, says I!

Today’s World Cup action

New Zealand scores its first World Cup goal in the closing seconds of stoppage time to draw 1-1 with Slovakia.

Drogba does not start for the Ivory Coast but is on the bench.

North Korea will be offered to Brazil for ritual slaughter this afternoon. Does anyone know if the match will be televised in North Korea?

Union/Independence/Local

The players salary budget for the Union is $2,394,192. Califf and Fred are the highest paid players on the team with a base salary of $250,000.

PPL Park is getting rave reviews.

The Union will play the Harrisburg City Islanders on July 27th. First kick is at 7pm at Skyline Sports Complex in Harrisburg.

Nick Zimmerman is happy to play whether it is with the Union or the City Islanders.

Comcast SportsNet and the Comcast Network will be showing Philadelphia Independence matches. You can view the league’s full broadcast schedule here. The Independence lost 3-1 to Sky Blue FC on Sunday with Marta scoring two goals and an assist.