Young soccer players chasing pro dreams at new academies

By DAVID MERCER – Apr 18, 2008

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (AP) — Louis Mateus is living an American soccer coach's dream.

Standing under a big, white inflated dome, he watches about 40 teenage boys trickle inside for two hours of drills and scrimmages in what by day is a suburban Chicago driving range.

The players — Mateus' players — are members of the Chicago Fire's Youth Development Academy, unpaid apprentices dedicated to the slim hope that someday they'll be pros in a country known more for its football than its futbol.

"To be honest with you," the 44-year-old coach says, shaking his head and laughing, "I didn't think I probably would see it in my lifetime."

Mateus is the director of the academy, one of 63 set up around the country over the past year by the U.S. Soccer Federation to train the 2,500 or so best American players. Six of the academies are affiliated with Major League Soccer teams like the Fire, others with lower-level pro teams or elite youth clubs. Another dozen academies, including three set up by MLS teams, are planned for next year.

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