Photo: Mark Thor

The Florida Citrus Bowl was rocking Sunday afternoon.

Why?

Because the U.S. Women’s National Team was in town.

Thousands of dedicated fans began arriving hours before kickoff between the U.S. and Brazil, waiting in lines that wrapped around the stadium just to get a glimpse of their favorite national-team players. Orlando was well represented on national television, with more than 20,274 in attendance- a standalone friendly record in the Southeastern U.S.

The crowd was also the highest in the USWNT’s series of friendlies in 2013 in the U.S.

Jim Trestman, a U.S. soccer supporter and Orlando City fan, compared the pre-game atmosphere to the ones seen in City matches.

“I love that soccer is being supported so heavily here,” he said at the tailgate. “Having Orlando City as our main team and friendlies like this is huge for us. I couldn’t have imagined this just five years ago.”

Three exciting goals early on by the US squad sent a message to the fourth-ranked Brazillian side, with stars Syndey Leroux and Abby Wambach converting for the lead. Brazil never really responded in full to the offensive attack by the U.S., falling 4-1.

The match was the USA’s first visit to Orlando and the Florida Citrus Bowl since May 22, 1999, when the Americans also played Brazil. That 3-0 U.S. victory featured Mia Hamm scoring her 108th –career goal to break the international scoring record.

Orlando City President Phil Rawilns, who worked closely with US Soccer to bring the game to Central Florida, said the crowd was just another reason why Orlando is quickly becoming a nationally-renowned soccer market.

“It was so exciting to see all of the fans out there supporting their National Teams,” said Rawlins. “We’ve always known that Central Florida is a hotbead of soccer, with today proving that fact even more.”