That interest manifested itself in the form of 29,745 fans Friday night at Cleveland Browns Stadium to witness the United States defeat Venezuela, 2-0, in a pre-World Cup tuneup.
It was a meaningless friendly against the world's 71st-ranked team. It was a match where the majority of top U.S. players did not start. It was a night when Northeast Ohio soccer faithful could have stayed home and watched the action on television.
Didn't matter. They were still pouring through the turnstiles 20 minutes into play. Brian Ching and Clint Dempsey scored the goals, and reserve keeper Tim Howard made a huge save to preserve a 1-0, second-half lead.
The star of the match, though, was the crowd - the largest to witness a Team USA match in Ohio.
