By Theo Leggett BBC World Business Report

The 2002 football World Cup has been remarkable for a series of upsets.

Many of the favourites have fallen by the wayside and several previously unheralded teams forced their way into the last eight, among them, the United States, which few had expected to progress beyond the opening matches.

The United States may now be out of the World Cup but its relative success means that football - or soccer - is now receiving unprecedented attention in North America, with members of the squad appearing on prime time talk shows and on the front cover of sports magazines.

This high profile could mean that the sport may start to attract advertisers.

Glamour boys

In Europe and South America, the profile of football couldn't be higher.

David Beckham endorses a range of products

Stars such as England's David Beckham, Brazil's Ronaldo or France's Zinedine Zidane can command millions of dollars for endorsing a range of products from hair gel to sunglasses.

In the United States, the situation couldn't be more different.

US sports fans traditionally find their heroes on the baseball pitch or the basketball court - and soccer players are far from being household names.

Media coverage

The United States' unexpected success in this World Cup could go a long way to changing those attitudes.

"I don't think in the long term soccer has the attraction that the other major sports - basketball, football and baseball - have in the United States."

Doug Shabelman, Burns Sports and Celebrities

Mark Noonan, vice president of marketing for Major League Soccer - organisers of the main North American league - said the World Cup has raised the games' profile higher than anybody could have expected.

This is particularly surprising considering the time difference means games are being played in the middle of the night in the US.

"We've had players on the front cover of Sports Illustrated two out of the last four weeks, the cover of USA Today and every other major newspaper including the New York Times, the Washington Post and the LA Times," he said.

"We've been the lead on ESPN Sports Centre before Tiger Woods and Shaquille O�Neill... so the profile is about as high as it can get right now."

But that optimistic view isn't widely shared.

Short lived enthusiasm?

Despite the new enthusiasm for soccer and an influx of opportunistic advertising during the team's matches, many experts believe the momentum is unlikely to be maintained after the competition.

"It is very very difficult for a team sport athlete to break out of the pack and to get national endorsements."

Mark Noonan, Major League Soccer

Doug Shabelman, who works for Burns Sports and Celebrities which matches athletes with sponsors, believes advertisers who have shied away from soccer will continue to shy away.

"There might be some immediate interest but I think there is quite a bit of competition for advertising dollars and for the public's attention," he said.

"I don't think in the long term soccer has the attraction that the other major sports - basketball, football and baseball - have in the United States."

Individual stars

But while the chances of football ever becoming a top line sport in the United States do not appear to be very high, irrespective of World Cup success, that doesn't prevent a few individuals becoming stars in their own right.

Donovan: scored against Mexico

Mark Noonan described the United States as "probably in the most competitive sport marketplace in the world" where it is particularly hard for a team sport athlete to get major endorsements, but he said there have been exceptions.

"Landon Donovan...who is bilingual, can speak to both the general market and Hispanic audience here, a kid like DaMarcus Beasley... that's lightened up the World Cup - all those guys have kind of risen above the din," he said.