More than 19 million US television viewers watched Ghana's 2-1 defeat of the United States, making it the most-watched football match ever in the United States, ratings service Nielsen said Monday.

Nielsen said 19.4 million viewers tuned into Saturday's US-Ghana match on broadcast television network ABC and on the Spanish-language channel Univision, beating out the 18.1 million viewers for the 1994 Italy-Brazil World Cup final.

"This record viewership proves that soccer is as popular as it's ever been in the United States," said Stephen Master, vice president of sports at Nielsen.

The 1999 USA-China final of the women's World Cup drew 18 million viewers while the June 12 match between the United States and England, the opener for both teams at the 2010 World Cup, drew 17.1 million.

Rounding out the top five most-watched matches on US television was the 2006 World Cup final between Italy and France, which drew 17.0 million viewers.

By comparison, February's Super Bowl, the championship in American football, between the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts drew a record 106.5 million viewers in the United States, according to Nielsen.

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