Soccer — or fútbol, as most of the world calls it— became a big deal in the United States this summer. America, unlike the rest of the world, does not take an huge interest in the sport as a whole despite the fact that soccer is the most played sport on the planet.

However, in the first round alone, more than 11 million Americans watched as team USA beat Ghana 2-1. The attendance only grew for the games against Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands.Still, this unusual increase in Americans watching the World Cup this year has caused many people around the world to question what made this World Cup so special compared to previous cups.

Even though manywatched the 2014 World Cup from their homes rather than in the stands in Brazil, people around the world supported their national teamsin many ways, including heading to local restaurants to watch the games with other fans, or attending festivals that celebrated national spirit. But no chant, national anthem, vuvuzela, or goal could create the noise that America was making.

At one point during the World Cup, Americans created the hashtag #ibelievethatwewillwin, which quickly became an internet sensation. Originating on twitter, it branched out over the internet and went as far to inspire videos and pictures on YouTube, Vine, Snapchat and Instagram that created attention and patriotism in the USA. That patriotism carried all the way through the final loss against the Netherlands with many people that could not have been prouder of team USA than ever before.

Celebrities even promoted the World Cup. People like Stephen Colbert used his show, “the Colbert Report”, to update his viewers about team USA and give them the “Colbert bump”. His advertizing helped the overall World Cup views and caused many of his viewers and followers on social media to show interest in the World Cup. Even the team USA twitter account and team USA goalkeeper Tim Howard used #ibelievethatwewillwin to promote the World Cup and heighten American support of team USA.

Finally, many Americans showed interest in the World Cup because of the schedule. Many people showed support for team USA and became interested in the other people began to watch the games of other Group G teams — the bracket team USA competed in — because they wanted to see who team USA would play in the following rounds of they continued on in the tournament. The American viewers paid attention to teams like Portugal, Germany, and the Netherlands because they cared as to who the USA would play and the support only increased as the tournament went deeper.