Women's World Cup Final Gains Second-Largest Audience Ever

(NewsCore) - The overnight television rating for Sunday's women's World Cup final between the US and Japan came in at 8.6, making it the second-largest US audience for a women's soccer game, USA Today reported Monday.

The US women's loss on penalty kicks was second only to the 13.3 overnight rating garnered by the 1999 women's World Cup final, which was played in the US and won by the Americans on penalty kicks. An official rating will be released by Nielsen Media Research later Monday.

The game was broadcast Sunday afternoon on cable outlet ESPN, while the 1999 match against China was on ABC. The 1999 final was watched by 11.4 percent of US households.

The thrilling contest far outpaced the 1999 US-Brazil semi-final, which was watched by 2.9 percent of US households and had been in second place until Sunday.

Last year's men's World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands garnered a 9.9 overnight rating for ABC. But Sunday's women's match came in higher than the men's 2010 World Cup group play match between the US and England, which came in at 7.3 on ABC.

The Japanese women, making their first final appearance, bested the Americans in a penalty shootout to deny the US its bid for a third title.

Japan twice battled back from the brink, first leveling the match at 1-1 on 81 minutes to force overtime and again bouncing back from 2-1 down with three minutes left in extra time to send the match to a penalty shootout, where the US missed its first three attempts.

Saki Kumagai struck the ball past US goalkeeper Hope Solo to give Japan the improbable win and hand her nation a point of pride in the wake of the nuclear disaster triggered by March's deadly earthquake and tsunami.

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