Former United States women's soccer player Megan Rapinoe ruffled some feathers this week with her take on the 2026 World Cup.
During a recent episode of her "A Touch More" podcast, Rapinoe discussed this year's World Cup with former USWNT teammate Ali Krieger. They talked about the importance of Americans embracing soccer culture not just this summer, but for years to come.
"I think that's the magic of the World Cup, which is what I was so excited about in that moment," Krieger said, via EssentiallySports. "This is so cool. Now, basically, we're showing our culture and the Americans how important this game is, how beautiful this game is, and why we love to play and why we're so passionate about it. And it's just, I don't know, it's going to change a lot of the perspectives of Americans."
Rapinoe, however, isn't so sure Americans understand the magnitude of hosting a World Cup.
"It's hard to really express to Americans who don't know soccer culture, football culture, but who knows, like NFL culture or American sports culture, that whatever you think is big is like not even close to what the world thinks."
© Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images.
Soccer is on the rise in America.
Although the U.S. men's national team came up short against Belgium in the Round of 16, that ended up being the most-watched soccer game in American history.
According to FOX, the USA-Belgium game averaged 30 million viewers. The TV audience peaked at more than 36.8 million at around 9:15 p.m. ET.
The Round of 32 match between the United States and Bosnia-Herzegovina, meanwhile, was watched by 26.4 million people.
We'll see if American sports fans continue to invest in soccer even after the World Cup is over.
