ESPNsoccernet: US

While still playing catch-up with the world in many regards, the U.S. is at the forefront of athletic training. Yet soccer also retains intangible elements that cannot be broken down into scientifically measurable parts.

In the 2002 World Cup, most onlookers were astonished to see a team that had never before won a game in the tournament make its way to the semifinals. If one subtracted benefits that South Korea enjoyed via hosting the tourney and some friendly referee calls, there remained the squad's incredible fitness. This allowed the team to attack all game long, coming from behind to win or tie many of its games.

The U.S. team, which enjoyed a successful quarterfinals run the same year, has also made fitness a hallmark of its squad. Stamina and athleticism have been key ingredients of the team's rise in the FIFA rankings.

That has not gone unnoticed by other countries. Most notably, Germany's coach, Jürgen Klinsmann, sought to add this element to the team that eliminated the U.S. in 2002. He picked Athlete's Performance to help implement the change. Trainers based in Los Angeles, where Klinsmann lives, often travel with him to Germany to work with the team.

Bringing in outside help paid off. In the recent Germany-U.S. game, it was the Germans this time who looked fitter and more athletic than the Americans. No doubt this was partly due to many of the U.S. players being in their offseason. The specialized tests and training that Athlete's Performance provided could probably take some credit, as well.

Klinsmann picked the training organization because of his familiarity with its work with another team, Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy.

"He was the technical advisor to the Galaxy [in 2004]," recalled Athlete's Performance trainer Shad Forsythe.

As part of the coaching staff of the Galaxy, Klinsmann was able to observe firsthand the techniques and the results brought about by Athlete's Performance. He lost no time seeking these advantages for the German national team.

"As soon as he got the post with Germany, he contacted us," Forsythe said.

Some might believe fitness training is a rudimentary science that is more or less similar the world over. Soccer is mostly running and kicking, and that doesn't seem to lend itself to a specialized approach that overcomplicates those basic elements.

Yet, as Forsythe points out, on the elite level, even those fundamentals need to be at their peak almost constantly.

"Speed and power are what the players need most," he explained.

After running a battery of examinations on players, the A.P. trainers design individual plans for each athlete to maximize those two components. With the trials and follow-up assessments that are run on players, it's also possible to identify those who are slacking on their fitness goals or not fully committing to the program.

This effort is key to Klinsmann's campaign partly because his current squad is low on the other needed ingredient in soccer -- the artistry. With an average skill level that is subpar to the great German teams of the past, Klinsmann will be counting on the work ethic of his players more than ever.

He will also need his best players available, if possible, and here Athlete's Performance again plays an important role as one of the top rehabilitation centers for sports injuries.

Galaxy management said that since their partnership began, players have had not only one of the lowest rates of injuries in the league but also the quickest overall recovery time.

"Athlete's Performance had been really good because they take a different approach than most rehab places," said Galaxy defender Todd Dunivant.

"Rather than pounding at the injury while trying to build it up and possibly tearing it up, they look at why you got injured and what happened and what other muscles around it might be strained."

Dunivant played every minute of the MLS season in 2005 and gave credit in part to the rehab he went through after arriving in Los Angeles.

"They look at what muscles around an injury are weaker and try to strengthen those, so that it takes pressure off the injured area. I came in last year with some injuries, and they took that approach and it worked very well."

Indirectly, at least, Athlete's Performance is actually aiding two national teams (both the German and U.S., that is). Galaxy players such as Dunivant, Chris Albright and Landon Donovan have all recently earned caps for the U.S., suffered injuries and looked to A.P. to help bring them back.

John O'Brien, the oft-injured midfielder who played for many years in Holland, traveled to California specifically to rehab with the organization. He successfully recovered in time to play in the Gold Cup competition last year, helping the U.S. to the title. Another injury led to his return to Los Angeles in an attempt to regain fitness in time to be an option for the World Cup squad.

An Arab proverb states, "He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything."

Physical conditioning is paramount for squads with limited depth. For a player and his team, certain injuries can be devastating.

"There's injuries where you can go on and just play through it, and then there's injuries where you miss time," Forsythe said. "Anyone who misses time and is not on the active roster with the team is with our team therapist. They're actually treating the athlete. But that's also where I come in. I'm conditioning them in any way I can to make sure that they're still in good shape. It's a double prong of therapy and training."

When the World Cup deadline is hanging over one's recovery, though, it can be nerve-racking.

"It's a tough thing to go through," Albright admitted. "Obviously, you put a lot of hope into the national team and the World Cup. It's tough to pull yourself out of something like that, but injuries happen. It's a lot about timing -- that's how this sport goes -- you learn to just roll with it."

Soccer players are most at risk for certain specific damage.

"Low back pain and hamstring and muscle strains," Forsythe said. "Since we started with the Galaxy three years ago, we've really had very few of them, so we definitely target those areas in our day-to-day warm-up, in our strength training and also in the way we teach the guys how to move properly in speed training and development."

In the three years Athlete's Performance has worked with the Galaxy, none of the players have suffered what many consider the most dreaded diagnosis -- an anterior cruciate ligament tear in the knee. Though medial collateral ligament tears are more common among soccer players, an ACL injury can end a career.

"The biggest cause of injury is lack of strength," Forsythe said. "Generally, it's just a matter of being a little bit unstable, relying too much on one leg. You need to be symmetrical. We run a series of tests on every guy on the Galaxy to identify any lack of symmetry, and then we target it. The major thing soccer players usually have is a very unstable dominant kicking foot."

All the recuperating players will be gearing to the start of the MLS season to prove to Bruce Arena that they are ready to contribute.

"That's how I got into national team camps, by playing well with the Galaxy," Dunivant said. "I need to get healthy and then worry about everything else from there. I was excited to get the call-up and hope the injury won't keep me out of the picture just because I got hurt during those three weeks."

Even O'Brien reportedly is looking to sign with an MLS team and prove his fitness.

Worldwide, MLS is not considered a model for soccer, and Klinsmann was at first criticized for bringing in an American training group. Positive outcomes, though, bring not only redemption of his decision but also a domino effect of creating more interest in the approach.

Ultimately, exercise science is only one aspect of the overall picture. The skill displayed by teams like Brazil is another, and the U.S. still lags in developing such technique. If other teams, like Germany, begin making inroads in the areas where the Americans have traditionally led, the time might have arrived for the U.S. to find some outside experts of their own to improve those missing elements.

John O'Brien is one of many players who have benefited from working with Athlete's Performance. (Jim Rogash/WireImage)