By Paul Kennedy

It's just FIFA's good fortune that the next Women's World Cup will be held in Canada. Think of all the USA-Canada friendlies the Canadians can host between now and 2015 to build up interest in the next women's world championship. And what about the prospect of a USA-Canada revenge match at the finals?

The television numbers from Canada for Monday's epic semifinal on TSN blew away those in the USA on NBC Sports Network.

The average audience on TSN was 3.84 million, and the total reach in Canada was 10.7 million.

NBC Sports Network's numbers weren't bad: 2.92 million average and peak of 3.84 million for the last half hour, making it the most-watched half-hour of the Olympics to date on NBC Sports Network.

(The USA-Argentina men’s basketball game that followed on NBC Sports Network was watched by an average of 3.33 million viewers.)

MEXICO-JAPAN SMASHES TELEMUNDO RECORD. Telemundo’s Spanish-language broadcast of the Mexico-Japan men's semifinal on Tuesday ranked as the highest telecast in the time period for that day in the history of the network, averaging 1.4 million total viewers.

In Los Angeles and Miami the game ranked No. 1 in the time period among adults 18-49 across all stations, regardless of language, delivering nearly a 90 percent share in Los Angeles.

In addition, the game ranked as Telemundo’s highest-rated soccer event at the 2012 London Olympics or 2008 Beijing Olympics.

GM EXEC OUSTED OVER MAN U DEAL. The $559 million marketing deal Manchester United made with Chevrolet continues to make headlines for all the wrong reasons.

General Motors chief marketing officer Joel Ewanick, the architect of the deal, resigned because he didn't “meet the company's expectations of an employee."

Bloomberg reported Wednesday that GM CEO Dan Akerson demanded Ewanick's head after it was determined Ewanick spread the price of the agreement with United among several different marketing budgets to avoid Akerson’s spending limits.

A former GM executive called Ewanick's departure “a huge setback.

FA CUP LIVE ON BUD FACEBOOK. The FA Cup charts new territory when the extra preliminary match between Wembley FC and Langford FC will air live on the Budweiser UK Facebook page.

Wembley FC has lined up former stars, including American Brian McBride, Ray Parlour, Martin Keown, Graeme Le Saux and Claudio Caniggia, to play under ex-England boss Terry Venables, the Wembley FC technical advisor.
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