It won't happen consistently, but certain people can shine during a game so much that you forget anyone else played, and it'll make them beloved worldwide (except America, of course). I'm thinking Ronaldo or Beckham, or even the relatively unknown second-starter Bastian Schweinsteiger who scored all three goals for Germany in the 2006 third-place game (NO, that one was NOT an own goal, screw the refs).
I was watching Top Gear the other day and the presenter asked Mika Hakkinen why Finns are such good drivers (they lead the world in most international racing stats). His response was that driving is practically a national sport, and kids start it competitively as soon as they can see over the steering wheel. You can't start in a sport later in life and be the best at it. Thus we will never be great in soccer until it becomes a sport that a good percentage of American kids dream of playing professionally. For example, Donovan is good, but where he is at Bayern Munich I can think of at least three players who are way better than he is.
As an ex-pat in Europe for 17 years, I started watching “soccer” here around 10 years ago (missed the NFL Sundays). I shock a lot of euros when I can actually carry on a conversation about the premier league or la liga or seria a. Other than the keepers, there just aren’t any “world class” players from the US. If you could get a hundred dozen wide receivers or cornerbacks playing soccer instead of football, there might be a chance. The speed of the game in europe is breathtaking, and most athletes in the US with that kind of speed are long gone to sports other than soccer. Hence the success of the keepers, who don’t have to have the blazing speed.
Just my take...