[MET OVAL] Met Oval, the New York Development Academy program, has linked up with Italian champion Juventus to work on player development. Juventus Soccer Schools will start out working with a select group of 75 young players.

"This is a monumental move for us, for our new European partners and tremendous for the players at the Met Oval," Met Oval president Jim Vogt said.

Vogt says the program is also important for his clubs' coaches,

"Our goal is to have every one of the coaches at the Met Oval to go to Juventus," Vogt said. "The highest coach needs to understand what the youngest coach is doing."

Met Oval is named after the legendary Metropolitan Oval, the home of ethnic soccer in the city for many years.

Juventus CEO Claude Blanc says the soccer complex located in Maspeth, Queens, is a special place.

"We had a feeling when we walked in we were in a place not in Italy, not in the U.S., but a place for a passion of soccer," he said. "There are a few places in the world where people like us have a passion for soccer can feel at home. We walked in next to this pitch and we can sense some very good soccer vibration and passion about the game."