In 1994 the United States played host to the World Cup, in 1998 a report was prepared for US Soccer called "Project 2010" as a guideline on what the authors believed was needed for the US to win the 2010 World Cup.  Nobody can claim that progress hasn't been made since 1994, in those 16 years we have reached great heights for the growth of soccer in the US.  We know have a growing and successful 1st division in Major League Soccer, the USMNT is ranked in the top 20 of the World by FIFA, and is the powerhouse of CONCACAF, but it isn't enough:

XI for '22'

"We the fans of US Soccer declare that we will no longer be persecuted by the media and other sports fans in our own country or around the world, we will no longer be anything less than a world power in the sport of "football, futbol, soccer".  We believe that the XI steps that we will unveil in the coming days are steps that must be taken over the next 12 year to result in the United States winning the 2022 World Cup, anything less is simply unacceptable."

Now is the time for soccer fans to come out of the shadows, to embrace the sport at every level as a part of our goal to become the very best in the world.  In 1998 the authors of "Project 2010" described the task as:

Winning the World Cup by 2010:
Soccer's Equivalent to the Apollo XI Moon Landing

That may have been the case in 1998, but not anymore, as the USMNT showed in South Africa they were just 4 wins away from hoisting the trophy.  Those 4 wins will require more than the efforts of a team, they will require the efforts of all 24.4 million people who watched the World Cup final on TV in the US on Sunday, it will require the efforts of everyone involved in US Soccer, MLS, USL, NASL, and every other organized and unorganized group playing the sport in the US.  It will require that egos be checked for the larger good, it will require that one goal be set above the goals of individuals and groups.  

Over the next few days, myself and other SB Nation Blogger will put forth their ideas XI in total on what we believe are the steps and changes that need to be made in order to achieve the goal.  To host and win the 2022 World Cup.  We invite you to offer your comments, ideas, suggestions and feedback, even among our group there will be differences of opinions on things, but the overall goal is established.

To host and  win the 2022 World Cup.

I will author a couple of the XI here, and I will link to the other posts so you can each read all of the ideas that we put forth.  There is no million dollar budget to write this plan, this is simply the efforts of those with an unbridled passion for the sport and the US Men's National Soccer Team.

OFF MY SOAPBOX