NEW YORK, June 18 — The US team’s 2-1 World Cup defeat of Ghana, capped by John Brooks’s header in the 86th minute, was ESPN’s highest-rated telecast since Florida State won the national college American football title in January.

The football game two nights ago drew a 6.3 household rating and was seen by more than 11 million people, making it the highest-rated and most-viewed men’s football match ever on ESPN or ESPN2. That includes 265 World Cup games on the two networks, ESPN said yesterday in an e-mailed release citing Nielsen Media Research.

US captain Clint Dempsey scored in the opening minute with the fifth-fastest goal in World Cup history. Ghana tied the game in the 82nd minute before Brooks, a substitute, won it off a corner kick. The US faces Portugal on June 22 before playing Germany in its final group game four days later. Germany thrashed Portugal 4-0 in their tournament opener.

“We have a lot of energy to give Portugal and Germany real games,” US coach Jurgen Klinsmann said after the victory. “From now on, it’s a grind from one game to another.”

Florida State’s 34-31 victory against Auburn in the Jan. 6 college American football title game, capped by a game-winning touchdown pass from Jameis Winston with 13 seconds left, drew a 14.6 household rating and an audience of 25.6 million. Since then, ESPN telecasts have included the Australian Open tennis tournament, the National Football League draft, National Basketball Association playoff games and US Open golf.

Univision viewers

Including the Spanish-language telecast on Univision, the US-Ghana game was viewed in 14.4 per cent of television households in the New York City market, according to Sports Business Journal. That’s higher than the average for New York Jets and New York Giants NFL games last year on CBS, Fox and NBC (14.1), the publication said.

Through the first 14 matches of the month-long World Cup, ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC combined to average a 2.5 household rating and 4.1 million viewers per game, a 19 per cent increase in ratings and 23 per cent rise in viewership over the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. — Bloomberg