So the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team standout and hero from this past year's World Cup took to Twitter with his dilemma: should he go to The Pit, Angus Barn or Sullivan's.

Judging by my Twitter timeline, half of Cary sent back suggestions.

Now I don't know what Donovan wound up choosing (it was just my luck that he wasn't available for interviews on the two days I was able to make it to practice; otherwise I assure you this journalist would have interrogated him with that hard-hitting question), but I do know that Twitter was one of many ways our slice of Wake County tried to help out our country's biggest soccer stars this past week.

Just months after the entire nation became wrapped up in its World Cup run -- as dramatic, if a little brief, as it may have been -- the team was practicing in Cary.

The players, all of them making millions per year whether it be in Major League Soccer or abroad, had come from all over the globe to try and gel for one week of training before exhibitions against Argentina and Paraguay. That much, we all knew going in.

But when the nation's best soccer players descend upon our area, what do they do? What do they think of it?

For starters, WakeMed Soccer Park made a good impression on everybody. Not one person could describe the week's training without talking about how excellent the facilities and the pitch were.

Goalkeeper Tim Howard said it was pretty clear that Cary "is a soccer town," noting the several College Cups the town has hosted in years past.

If you weren't in some way affiliated with local youth soccer program, a Carolina RailHawks season ticket holder or a member of the media, you couldn't watch the national team's practices.

But you might've been lucky enough to see one around town.

Howard said the greater Cary area was ideal for getting the team in a good mindset to focus on the task at hand while still being able to enjoy the surrounding area.

"It offers the players enough to do," Howard said. "It's quiet, out of the way, but it also has things that are important to players in our training camp: shopping malls, the restaurants, the ability to kind of get out, get away and blend in with the crowd."

The players stayed in the Embassy Suites off Harrison Avenue and hit up local restaurants like Ruth's Chris and even got Starbucks to pass the time.

"Somebody getting a coffee and browsing a bookstore is downtime for us," Howard said.

"Those are the kinds of things you take for granted until you've spent a lot of time in Europe."

Soccer's extremely popular in the area, but not to the point where any of the players might be instantly recognized perusing the non-fiction section at a Borders.

But that seems to work for them.

The players didn't get to interact with as many fans as they would've if practices had been open all week or the team not hurried to the charter bus after each session, but that didn't mean players didn't feel the love this week.

"They do a lot to support us, whether they recognize us in our street clothes or not," Howard said. "Everyone who seems to notice us down here is very friendly and very cordial."