The USMNT beat Bosnia-Herzegovina in the knockout round, the World Cup is being co-hosted on American soil, and soccer still can't crack the mainstream. A new Ipsos Sports poll conducted exclusively for the Associated Press makes that tension impossible to ignore.
Only about 2 in 10 Americans consider themselves soccer fans — international or domestic. That's well behind professional football, basketball, and baseball. Even with the tournament literally in their backyard, roughly one-third of U.S. adults say they've followed World Cup coverage closely. Most have heard "a little." That's not an audience. That's ambient noise.
The fans who are watching are genuinely into it
Among actual soccer fans, the numbers tell a different story. About 6 in 10 said they were "extremely" or "very" excited about the U.S. advancing to the knockout stage — a figure that almost certainly ticked upward after Wednesday's win against Bosnia, the first knockout victory for the USMNT since 2002. Twenty-three years is a long time to wait for something to cheer about in the round of 16.
55% of soccer fans rated the team's group stage performance as going "extremely" or "very" well. Around a quarter said "somewhat well." The floor for expectations wasn't high — this program had made exiting early an art form — so the goodwill is real, even if it's contained to a relatively small slice of the country.
Co-hosting duties are also drawing decent marks from fans, with about half rating the U.S. role in organizing the tournament favorably. FIFA itself? A different story.
FIFA's approval numbers are quietly damning
Only one-third of soccer fans rated FIFA's management of the tournament as going at least "very" well. The governing body has taken heat for mandated hydration breaks that disrupt game flow and for its handling of travel restrictions and visa refusals affecting Iranian fans and officials. Among the broader American public, opinion on FIFA is split roughly evenly between favorable and unfavorable — but 55% have no opinion at all, which says everything about where soccer sits culturally.
The USMNT's run is generating buzz in the right circles. It's not generating converts. Whether the co-hosting experience plants a longer seed is a question for 2027 — right now, the poll data suggests one good tournament run doesn't move a needle that's been stuck for decades.
