Earlier this month Backdraft headed out to Toyota Park to watch the Fire’s U-16 and U-18 academy teams face the U.S. U-17 national team. The Academy initiative, headed by Louis Mateus, has been running for around a year, and is one of the first fully free youth development academies in MLS.

New rules in MLS make such academies critical for the future success of teams, as each clubs can now directly sign (bypassing the draft) up to two players from their academies each year. Backdraft has been watching the games, and recently spoke to Mateus about the program.

In front of a sizable crowd of parents, college coaches and scouts the U-16’s took the field first and brought everyone to their feet by taking the lead just before halftime with a wonderfully worked goal. The U.S. tied the game up early in the second half on a free kick and the game ended in a 1-1 tie. Impressively, the U-16’s outplayed their opponents throughout the game and a tie was less than they deserved. The U-16s maintained their unbeaten record on the season.

Many of the players put in eye catching performances but the man of the match was Victor Pineda, who wore the #4 shirt and played in the center of midfield. He played with a maturity well beyond a kid who just turned 15 with every attack going through him. He cut through the U.S. midfield with ease before spraying balls out to his wingers with impressive accuracy for a player born in 1993.

In the second game, the Fire’s U-18 team came up against the U.S. U-17 squad that had defeated Brazil 2-0 a few months earlier. The Fire succumbed 5-0 to their U.S. counterparts for their first loss of the season, though the score line did not reflect the game. A flurry of late goals did not do the U-18’s justice as they fought hard for most of the game. At least two of the starting 11 for the Fire U-18s actually play for the U-16 team but were called up to play for the U-18s that day, acquitting themselves well.

A few days after the matches Backdraft caught up with the director and head coach of the academy teams Louis Mateus for an interview.

Backdraft: Where are you recruiting from?

Mateus: We are recruiting from anywhere within 75-100 miles of Toyota park. We are even interested in kids that are moving here from other states for this opportunity. We watch High School games, club games, inter-city programs, other established clubs and internationals clubs in our local market.

Backdraft: How do you deal with the established clubs (such as the Chicago Magic and the Chicago Sockers) in terms of recruiting?

Mateus: We are competition for them. We certainly are looking at their players that we think would fit our system and have the potential and the will to be professional soccer players.

Backdraft: What are you looking for in the players that you recruit?

Mateus: I look for players that have the technical skill, tactical awareness of the game, the will, the drive to get better and have the speed. And their personality, as a sound young man that can represent all of us.

Backdraft: How young are you looking at players? Are you looking at kids that are younger than the academy players i.e. 13-14 year olds?

Mateus: This year we have players that are born in 1990, 1991, 1992 & 1993. This coming season we will look into some 1994 and exceptional 1995 born players.

Backdraft: Is our Academy modeled after any other academy in the world?

Mateus: At this time no, but we have looked at many model from all over the world such as West Ham, Southampton, Man Utd and Everton in England. In Portugal we looked at what Sporting and Benfica do since I was born there, so I had to look at their success.

Backdraft: What are your short term and long term goals/expectations in terms of producing pro players?

Mateus: My short term goals would be that we will sign one player this coming year to be in our Fire team this coming year. We want to develop our players to be technically and tactically sound and psychologically aware and trained to be professional players. In the long term, the goal is that we will consistently produce 4-6 players every year.

Backdraft: How do you lure players to sign pro instead of going to college to play? What kind of pro contracts can these players sign i.e. developmental or Generation adidas?

Mateus: I think the best solution would be Generation adidas contracts. These players would stay and play professional if they know that academics would always be taken care of in case things did not go right. Education is a very high priority in our society.

Backdraft: What players are you most excited about? Do you believe any of the current crop in particular can turn pro within the next few seasons?

Mateus: I am very excited about the classes of 1991 and 1992. We have such players as Marco Gutierrez (Forward, '91), Jorge Flores (Defense, '91), Trent Miller (D, '92), Bryan Ciesulka (Midfield, '91) and Victor Pineda (F, '93). In the older class we have a group like Brad Horton (NIU, High School player of the year), Jarrett Kerr (D, Michigan), Seth Stockley (D, Loyola), Keith Mach (M, Bradley), Ian Christianson (M '91). These are a few players that have been very consistent in our first 10 games.

Academy Schedule

The Academy’s last 2 home games against FC Milwaukee and the Chicago Magic were cancelled due do inclement weather. Their next game is this Saturday, April 26th, against the Clearwater Chargers. The U-16 game starts at 11am and the U-18 game starts at 1pm. Both games will be played at Toyota Park and are free to attend. Backdraft encourages all Fire fans to show up to these games and support the next generation of Fire players.