FIFA World Cup united Bay Area soccer fans

Well they may have been rooting for different teams, but the FIFA World Cup still united thousands of soccer fans here in the Tampa Bay area as they came together to celebrate the global sport. FOX 13's Heather Haley takes a closer look at the local impact. Happy World Cup! For the past five weeks, the FIFA World Cup has brought people together, turning strangers into fans, and cities into one big community. Honestly, I haven't seen the city this together for sports since, I want to say the Bucs runs and the Lightning runs. From packed watch parties, like we saw at Owling Stadium for the U.S. men's team, to local pubs, that sense of unity has everyone cheering for something bigger than themselves. So anywhere you go, people are going to be watching it, everyone's got their different jerseys on, so that's my favorite part, no matter where you go, it's going to be a good time to watch. I think it's just the emotions that come out of the game, and it's just, I think it breaks down a lot of, I don't know, it breaks people's hostilities, and just enjoy, yeah. Back on July 6th, when the U.S. lost to Belgium in the Ronda 16, a record was set as the most watched soccer telecast in U.S. history, with 30 million eyes on the pitch. It was good to see them actually win games, it'd be good, there were some games where The U.S. may have been knocked out, but the excitement around the World Cup never left Tampa Bay. Nothing's better than sitting in a crowd of people you might not know, but rooting on the same team that you guys also have been rooting on since you've been a little kid. It's really just people's attention being brought to it, we have more events based in the United States, more teams being brought over, more players with notoriety coming into the states, and that's bringing a lot of attention to the game that wasn't here before. That passion fueling soccer's continued growth, with more people across Tampa Bay embracing the sport. I think a lot of young kids really like to play it, and I think that helps a lot, they get interested when they're young and then follow it when they get older, it's just a really interesting game to watch. In Tampa, Heather Healy, FOX 13 News.