Most U.S. soccer fans occupy a place somewhere between realism and pessimism in their support of the national team.

But for the 23-man roster, there’s a reason – thousands of them, actually – to dream big.

Turns out that U.S. players are guaranteed the biggest payout for a World Cup victory than any other team in the field.

It would be the highest per-player payout in history, netting each U.S. player $895,000 should they lift the World Cup.

Spain and England’s players would reportedly earn around £500,000 a piece to win the tournament, while Brazil’s players are only slated to earn about half of that total.

From the article…

If the USA don’t gain a single point, each player will still pick up $78,447 (£54,102) in agreed bonus money from the U.S. Soccer Federation. This will come from a pot of $1.5 million set aside by U.S. Soccer for qualifying for the finals, plus an appearance fee of $4,410 per man per game in South Africa, regardless of whether they actually play.

Collectively the squad will receive an extra $180,000 per point won in the group stage, to a maximum of $1.6m for nine points for games against England, Slovenia and Algeria.

Qualifying from the group will trigger an extra squad payment of $2.85m. Reaching the quarterfinals will earn $3.4m more. Reaching the semifinals will be worth another $2.7m.

Winning the semi-final then losing the final will be worth another $6.9m, while winning the semi-final and final will earn the squad pot another $7.8m.

A pot of appearance money set aside by US Soccer is worth a maximum of $710,010, or $4,410 per man for up to seven games. That makes the total potential bonus pot $20.6m, or $895,131 per man.

Think the players have a chance of cashing in on the biggest World Cup winner’s bonus in history?

They’ll punch the clock for the first time in thr 2010 World Cup on Saturday afternoon against England (1:30 p.m., ABC).