WORLD CUP WORTH 4-YEAR WAIT FOR FANS THEIR FAVORITE FOOTBALL ENTHRALLING.

Byline: EUGENE TONG Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- It may sound odd, but World Cup fanatic Jon Hagstrom and his friends rarely utter the word ``soccer.''

The 25-year-old owner of a local soccer equipment store prefers calling his favorite sport what most of humanity calls it: football.

``It's football,'' said Hagstrom, who played for Saugus High and the University of Redlands before taking over the shop about six months ago.

``I love the game. I love how it's 11 guys on the field contributing, playing together. It's the most intelligent game there is.''

Although it's not exactly America's national sport, the World Cup tournament every four years has enough of a local following to inspire youth league players, Latino immigrants and soccer moms and dads alike to break into spontaneous cries of ``goaaaaal.''

``You have to feed off other people's energy,'' said Dominic Buono, 22, of Canyon Country, who grew up with ``futbol'' in his blood, thanks to his Argentine father. ``My dad cried when Argentina didn't make it out of their group (in the 2002 tournament). Everybody takes it pretty hard when their team loses.''

Also expect many hours of lost sleep between now and the tournament's July 9 final in Berlin; host nation Germany is nine hours ahead of Los Angeles, with the earliest game beginning live at about 6 a.m. Pacific time.

``I don't want to say life stops,'' Hagstrom said. ``But it definitely becomes your life in the next month.''

Scott Christie, 48, of Saugus is up to the challenge. Before the tournament started last Friday, he cleared enough memory from his Tivo to record 128 hours of passes, slide tackles and headers.

``We had to get rid of the Oprah and the `Grey's Anatomy' (shows) we've watched five or six times already,'' said Christie, also a coach with the United Santa Clarita youth soccer club. ``''They're my wife's shows.''

Before Christie was a soccer dad -- his daughter played on Saugus High's women's varsity team -- he took to the field himself, playing defense, when he was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s. ``By the time I got to high school, it wasn't even a high school sport,'' he said. He was glad it changed for his daughter.

``She can experience the camaraderie and what it's like to be in a group -- to understand what it means to be united together for a common goal.''

As a coach, Christie appreciates the sport's subtleties.

``It's fast-moving -- very cerebral,'' he said. ``I see it as a chess match. It's on a grander scale, plus being outdoors. Weather becomes a factor in all different kinds of play.''

In Newhall, the center of the valley's Latino community, futbol fever is never far from locals' minds or television screens.

``My first toy was a soccer ball,'' said Carlos Marroquin, owner of a San Fernando Road soccer accessory shop. ``I have soccer balls in my blood. ... We need to support the kids here. They're the future.''

Oscar Ramirez, 16, of Newhall, a fan of team Brazil -- the New York Yankees of the soccer world with five World Cup championships -- said he's keeping early hours even though school's out.

``I can just get up and watch,'' said Ramirez, who plays on the junior varsity soccer team at Hart High. ``It's like something you can't stop. You stop and see people playing, and you want to play, too.''

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Jon Hagstrom, center, holding a soccer ball, is flanked by World Cup fans at his local store, Soccer Locker.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer