Remember when the Tampa Bay Rowdies orchestrated an entire marketing campaign around -- and introduced soccer as -- a "kick in the grass," helping turn Tampa into a soccer hotbed before the NFL or MLB or NHL came to town.

The Mexico-USA match drew an average of almost 7 million viewers for the late-night broadcast (10:30 p.m ET kickoff) on ESPN and UniMas, where it set a viewing record.

ESPN's broadcast of Tuesday's Mexico-USA game drew a 1.6 overnight rating (the percentage of households tuning in) and is on pace to smash the ESPN/ESPN2 record for the highest rating for a World Cup qualifier.

Major League Soccer drew an average of only 14,696 fans for eight games in Week 4 -- the lowest weekly average for a week with more than one game in several years. The low numbers -- which included a record low crowd at Houston's BBVA Compass Stadium and four crowds of less than 12,000 -- were not entirely surprising.

E:60, ESPN's prime-time newsmagazine show, has produced a segment examining the latest aspect of the USA-Mexico soccer rivalry -- the fight to secure the talents of young players who hold dual citizenship.

Sueno MLS is back for its seventh year as the nationally televised talent search returns on Univision Network's popular weekly sports entertainment program, República Deportiva, Sunday.

The U.S. national team's commitment to embrace its fans is remarkable. Can you imagine any other national team coach rounding up a bunch of players and heading off to a pep rally the night before a big game?<

ESPN is pulling out all the stops for its coverage of the USA's World Cup qualifiers Friday against Costa Rica (ESPN, WatchESPN, 10 p.m. ET) and Tuesday at Mexico (ESPN, WatchESPN,  9:30 p.m. ET).

How did MLS's Rivalry Week go over on national television, where all nine games were aired in one form or another?

Don Garber has pushed for the league's 20th team go to a franchise in his native Queens, but the Major League Soccer commissioner admitted for the first time pressure was growing to get a NY2 stadium deal done.

The Seattle-Portland match caps MLS's schedule of seven Saturday games during Rivalry Week -- and concludes 10 hours of consecutive coverage on NBC and NBC Sports Network.

FOX Sports Media Group will broadcast all 25 Gold Cup matches for the first time in 2013. Coverage will include up to three games on FOX Sports, marking the first time it will provide network coverage of the Concacaf championship.

Trying to capitalize on the popularity of the NFL Red Zone, the game-day channel that provides back-and-forth coverage of all the Sunday afternoon football during the fall, NBC Sports Network will on Saturday air "MLS Breakaway," a two-and-a-half studio show covering four MLS games at the same time on Rivalry Week. It will part of an unprecedented 10 hours of continuous MLS coverage on NBC and NBC Sports Network.

Jurgen Klinsmann is not your conventional coach. He had Buddha statues at Bayern Munich when he became coach there, and added yoga and language classes for players. More recently, he flew himself to the U.S. national team January training camp by helicopter -- it allowed him to spend the evening with his family at home and get back to camp by breakfast and also earned him flying hours needed to gain his pilot's license. Klinsmann is also a digital wizard.

Combined viewership on FOX Soccer and FOX Deportes topped 1 million last Tuesday for the Manchester United-Real Madrid UEFA Champions League match.