Although I’m the first to admit that I’m a huge sports fan, I can’t say I ever had much connection to soccer. The sport always felt slow, uninteresting, and Byzantine in how its rules are enforced, and while my sister became a rabid soccer fan growing up, I never developed a taste for the sport — especially once I found out how sinister some of football’s governing body’s actions were behind the scenes.

For all that, I have been completely swept up by the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It’s not just the magical ascendence of the United States Men’s National Team, either; this World Cup has made soccer incredibly fascinating to me in a way no other presentation of the sport has. There is undoubtedly more personal skin in the game when the USMNT is on the pitch, so the team’s quarterfinal match against Belgium is what I am most excited to stream this week.

The USMNT will play Belgium on Monday, July 6, at 8 p.m. ET on Fox and Telemundo. I’ve got nothing but praise for the Fox crew broadcasting this World Cup; the announcers have made it easy for a novice to understand many of the subtleties of the game, and the matches always feel exciting.

I’ve also found myself watching several World Cup matches on Telemundo via Peacock, and because I don’t speak Spanish, I’ve found these presentations to be delightfully chaotic. At any given time, I’m only partially sure of what’s going on, but the enthusiasm the announcers infuse into every match makes it far too entertaining to care.

I sat down for Wednesday’s Round of 32 match between the United States and Bosnia and Herzegovina, expecting 90 minutes of excitement, and I wasn’t disappointed. Even after a thoroughly unjust (in my newly educated opinion) red card for striker Jerry Balogun in the game’s second half, it was clear that the USMNT had BIH overmatched.

Will it be the same against Belgium? Early odds slightly favor the U.S., and if they defeat Belgium, they’ll advance to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 2002. But history favors the Belgians; the USMNT has lost to Belgium six straight times, including a Round of 16 match during the 2014 World Cup.

But this is a different USMNT, and the home crowd will be behind them. The game will be played in Seattle, the stadium that rocked to the strains of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” after the U.S. team’s group stage victory over Australia.

For many years now, being a fan of American soccer meant having a strong, always competitive women’s team to follow, and a somewhat less-than-stellar men’s team to endure. But head coach Mauricio Pochettino deserves a ton of credit for the work he’s done to raise the USMNT to its current status. If it can climb to the sustained levels of success the USWNT has shown throughout its entire history, soccer could experience an even greater surge of popularity in the U.S. than it has in decades.

Viewers will be able to see the USMNT take on Belgium on Monday, July 6, at 8 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast in English on Fox, which is available to stream nationwide on DIRECTV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV, as well as on Sling TV in a small number of domestic markets. It can also be watched live with a Fox One subscription for $20 per month. Telemundo will air the game in Spanish, and viewers can stream that presentation on Peacock.