SOCCER NEWS TODAY: Landon Donovan of USA gets a shot off past Lucas Neill of Australia Football - International Friendly - USA v Australia - Ruimsig Stadium June 5, 2010 JUNE 9, 2010: Educated soccer fans — it’s not an oxymoron anymore. Soccer's popularity is on the rise across the nation and even non sports buffs are becoming familiar with soccer stars. As the count down to the World Cup continues, all eyes are on our local LA Galaxy soccer star, Landon Donovan.  Now millions of Americans are familar with Donavan's name.    Even MSNBC has turned their eyes on the upcoming soccer event and has claimed Donovan as one of the World Cup's stars and states that "South Africa will be filled with goal scorers (Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto'o)" .... and that "If Donovan doesn't play well, the U.S. usually loses."  At least MSNBC goes on to say that "Donovan has played marvelously the past few months and doesn't show any signs of slowing down."     Donovan deserves all this attention, so does his teammate Buddle, who has been performing extremely well in the pre-World Cup friendlies.  In the U.S. vs. Australia game, Buddle was a scoring machine.   Although most media does not predict a win for the U.S. team, I know that all soccer-loving eyes in Southern California will be on the World Cup match between the U.S. and England on June 12.   It was 60 years ago that the United States played England in the World Cup in beat England 1-0 in 1950 in Brazil. Even soccer tournaments, such as the first CV Manchester Cup Tournament, are working their tournament schedule around the World Cup match.   While there may be speculation about the U.S. teams performance in the upcoming World Cup, and although England’s premier player Wayne Rooney has been scoring in friendlies, the match between England and the U.S. is far from decided.   SoccerNation.com recently polled our visitors on which team would win.  More than 1,000 votes were registered and both teams took turns leading in the polls.   Now our newest poll is whether or not soccer enthusiasts will watch the World Cup.   Those of us on the West Coast might find getting up and putting on a soccer jersey may be a bit of an effort at the early hours of some of the World Cup games. For those of us who would rather watch from the comfort of our homes, ABC, ESPN, and ESPN 2 will broadcast the World Cup to millions of eager fans. ESPN3.com will also provide complete coverage of the games on the Internet.   For a really cool World Cup calendar, check this out!  TV networks and advertisers are sinking millions into the sport’s growth and everyone is catching the soccer buzz.   ESPN has spent a fortune, paying $100 million for the rights to the 2010 and 2014 World Cup tournaments, betting on the belief that Americans are really falling in love with soccer and want to watch as much of it as possible. For the really eager, there are restaurants around Southern California with special hours, menus and drinks. SoccerFanatic is providing a special list of local World Cup events – some are child friendly, others I think are more for the adult fan. The real question is how much of the world cup will you watch?   Looking for a place to watch the World Cup?  CLICK HERE   Is this the chance for all non-soccer aficionados to jump on the bandwagon and start telling everyone what has been happening in the soccer world? Even for a new comer to this realm of ball and man, I find this amusing although pleasing; I do want the to embrace the sport my family loves so dearly -- and that I love now as well.   It is hard to believe that more Americans have bought tickets to attend the World Cup in South Africa than citizens from any other country. Yes, it is really a long and expensive the trip, and yes, Americans have traditionally been less soccer oriented than other countries – but once an American grabs a hold of an idea and that idea becomes trendy, there are no lengths too far to travel in pursuit of attaining the desired goal. While I often feel more a citizen of the world than an American, I now too embrace soccer in all its glory and can't wait for the world cup to start.     For a schedule of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa, Click Here.  Or MSNBC's World Cup Score Board, Click Here Written by Diane Scavuzzo, Editor in Chief