With American players prominent in Europe's top leagues, a run to the final of last summer's Confederations Cup fresh in the mind and an opening game against England on June 12, US media interest in the fortunes of Bob Bradley's team has never been greater.

American rights-holders ESPN and ABC, who have televised every World Cup game since 1994, have been hyping this World Cup like no other, and this time are using stars like Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Jozy Altidore to front their marketing campaigns, which have previously been dominated by players from overseas.

Yet with the increased interest comes a need for the likes of Los Angeles Galaxy forward Donovan, the USA's all-time leading scorer, to dampen expectations.

The days are gone, Donovan believes, when the USA could spring a surprise at a World Cup, as they did in 1950 when a Joe Gaetjens header defeated England, or in 2002, when they caught Portugal cold to emerge as unlikely 3-2 winners.

"It will be different now," said Donovan, who made his World Cup debut in that victory over the Portuguese.

"The perception of our team was different. We were really quiet publicly, there wasn't a lot of press about us going into the tournament and Portugal were dark horses and we kind of shocked them and they weren't ready for us.

"We're certainly not going to be able to do that against England.

"A lot of our guys either play in England or have played in England so a lot of us know each other and so there won't be any hiding.

"It's not like we don't know who we're playing against."

Beating Portugal in Suwon eight years ago sent the USA on a run to the quarter-finals, their finest hour in World Cup history since reaching the semi-finals at the inaugural event in Uruguay in 1930, when just 13 teams entered.

There have been seven further appearances in the finals since then, with the US having qualified for the last five consecutively.

Last time around, though, in Germany four years ago, there was a step back after the success in reaching the last eight four years previously as Bruce Arena's team lost their opening game 3-0 to the Czech Republic, fought out a 1-1 draw with Italy and then were eliminated after a 2-1 loss to Ghana.

Qualification for 2010, while hard-fought with CONCACAF rivals Honduras, Costa Rica and fierce rivals Mexico, has restored belief that the US can become a force again, but Donovan is keenly aware of the importance of a strong opening performance against the group favourites.

"You want to get off to a good start, so in theory playing an easier opponent it gives you a better chance," he said.

"However, if you can play the hardest team in the group and get a result then that goes a long way towards helping you qualify."

After the England game in Rustenberg, the Americans continue their Group C campaign against Slovenia at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on June 18 before meeting Algeria on June 23 in Pretoria.

That the USA has had such recent experience of playing at all three grounds during last year's Confederations Cup can only help the American cause, Donovan believes.

"It's going to be very helpful to us," the Galaxy captain said. "A lot of our guys have been twice now as we played a friendly there a couple of years ago.

"I didn't go to that game but there's a lot of things that are different about just being in South Africa, [so] if you haven't been there it's going to be a disadvantage.

"And having played in a World Cup-like tournament in South Africa is, I think, invaluable and not many teams can say that."