As the United States gears up for its round of 16 matchup with Belgium, someone can safely say, “Soccer has never been this popular.”

We’re looking at the perfect storm of soccer enthusiasm in this country. Not the George Clooney kind, but the kind that might move soccer from a niche sport into a sport on the level of at least hockey.

Not only has the United States earned trips to the knockout round in back-to-back years, but all the games have been aired at comparatively normal times.

With the majority of the games being aired only two hours and even just one hour ahead of the Central Time Zone, that’s meant massive exposure for soccer and even bigger ratings for TV networks. It’s no small feat.

Just last year, the MLS Cup Final drew approximately 505,000 viewers. At its peak — way back in 2006 — the final drew approximately 1.25 million viewers. That’s not a world-beater, particularly when you look at the TV viewership totals for the 2014 NBA Finals and the 2013 World Series, which were seen by 15.5 million and 14.9 million people, respectively.

That’s where the World Cup comes in. The United States versus Germany drew about 10.8 million viewers on a Thursday morning. Those are huge numbers.

The question for the actual soccer die-hards and MLS teams will be how to sustain this level of interest. They probably can’t answer that, at least not yet.

Did you know the MLS is playing games right now? No, no one does, except for the players and maybe a couple stadium employees.

It’s the event spectacle that’s drawn all these people and the opportunity to unite behind one team. It’s also the level of play that has been shown during the World Cup, which has been far more exciting than the average soccer match.

No matter people’s opinions on soccer, they’ll always tune in to see the world’s best do something. The principle remains the same for every professional team in the USA. The world’s best are playing baseball, football, basketball and hockey here, and people turn out for that.

Whether the United States can extend soccer’s day in the sun remains to be seen, because it’ll be facing Belgium, which ran through a weak Group H.

The Belgian team went undefeated in group-play but had the lowest goal total amongst undefeated group winners. While the Belgians aren’t going to score a lot of goals, their defense will keep them in the game and possibly hold the United States at bay.

However, the injury bug has swept through the Belgium defenders, knocking out Anthony Vanden Borre and Laurent Ciman. Top defenders Vincent Kompany and Thomas Vermaelen may also be forced out of the match.

This should play into the USA’s favor. Last time these two teams met, way back in 2013, Belgium blew out the USA, 4-2. This time around, the injuries along with the charging play displayed against Portugal and Ghana by the USA should give them an advantage.