England’s surprise victory over Mexico to advance to the World Cup quarterfinals drew nearly 22 million viewers to Fox Sports on Sunday night.

Viewership for the world soccer tournament remained strong over the Independence Day holiday weekend, with more than 15.5 million viewers tuning in to Friday’s wild match that nearly saw tiny Cape Verde eliminate longtime World Cup contender Argentina.

On Sunday, England’s knockout of Mexico drew 21.7 million viewers to Fox Sports, making it the most-watched World Cup television broadcast in U.S. history for a match that did not include Team USA. Viewership peaked in the final 15 minutes with 25.7 million viewers.

The crowd for the Argentina-Cape Verde match on July 3 peaked at 22.958 million viewers between 8:30 and 8:45 pm ET. Argentina took the lead just a few minutes into 30 minutes of extra time, but Cape Verde responded to tie the match. This year’s tournament marks Cape Verde’s first participation in a World Cup.

The Colombia-Ghana match had an average of 10.387 million viewers. Colombia won 1-0 in its second victory in the knockout phase of a World Cup and its first since 2014 in Brazil.

Australia-Egypt averaged 8.849 million viewers. Egypt beat Australia 4-2 in a penalty shootout and advanced to the knockout round for the first time in a World Cup. This is only the fourth time Egypt has participated in the World Cup and the first since 2018 in Russia.

Overall, the World Cup Round of 32 averaged 9.548 million viewers on Fox and Fox Sports 1. That’s +262% more than the telecast average for the entire 2022 World Cup group stage on Fox and Fox Sports 1 (2.638 million viewers).

World Cup coverage continues Thursday with France vs. Morocco at 4 pm ET / 1 pm PT. Spain plays Belgium at 3 pm ET / 12 pm PT on Friday at Los Angeles Stadium here in Los Angeles. Norway’s matches against England and Argentina against Switzerland on Saturday complete the quarterfinals.

(In the photo: English player Harry Kane)