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"The coaches that are at this training, they expect a lot more out of you," says Seth Stockley, a 17-year-old defender who drives more than an hour from his home in rural Earlville for the training. "I would say they're more strict here than I've ever seen at a club."

The coaches make extensive use of video -- clips from academy games and of pros at their best and worst.

"There are a lot of things that go on in a game that you don't quite realize," Stockley says. "When you look at video, video never lies."

American players have obstacles besides bad habits, Mateus says, citing video games, cell phones, school and making college plans.

"There's nothing wrong with that, it's just a different style," he says. "Kids growing up in Europe, their main goal is to play professional. They take a lot of chances to make that happen.

"The question is, when push comes to shove, do (American) players have the desire?"

Mateus says his academy can produce four, maybe five, pro players over the next five years.

Ian Christianson, a 16-year-old midfielder from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, joined the academy last fall. He lives with a teammate, going home once a month or so. He spends about a dozen hours a week training.

"It's definitely no joke," he says. "People are here to play; spots aren't guaranteed."

Soccer academies don't work for everyone and aren't a guaranteed fix for American player development said Steve Nicol, coach of MLS's New England Revolution, which will add an academy team next year.

And, he says, if the training is too serious, too businesslike, some players won't respond.

"You can have all this organization," Nicol says. "The one thing you have to make sure when the players come into it, whether it's two days a week or it's seven days week, is that the players enjoy it."

All the same, Nicol says he won't mind when the day comes that he can train young players, looking for those few who are good enough to be pros and, just maybe, raise the standard of the American game along the way.

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