Prior to the start of the 2007 season, Pope approached former RSL coach John Ellinger and requested to be Besagno's roommate on the road. It was a two-fold thought process on Pope's part. First, he was pretty sure 2007 would be his last year, and secondly he believes Besagno has a great future ahead of him.

"For me, I sort of did the same thing with Bobby Convey when he first joined the national team, and I wanted the same for Nik," said Pope in an interview earlier this season. "We have little conversations about little things, go back to the room, we talk a little bit about training and maybe positioning, and what he should've done on this play and that play."

It was also an opportunity to show Besagno how to conduct himself on and off the field, how to prepare for games mentally, and the teenager insists he's starting to view the game of soccer with a newfound understanding.

Even though there's no tangible evidence for fans to latch onto, the team insists it's there.

"When you look at it in the grand scheme of things, there's a lot of young players in the league, but there's very few that play that central role, if any," said Besagno, who admits he's frustrated with his lack of playing time. "I'll continue to work every day, and when I get my chance I'll be ready for it."

But when will that chance come? For a player who's been dubbed the "heir apparent" to Pope once he retires, you'd think Real's coaching staff would want to get Besagno as much playing time as possible to groom him for 2008. That hasn't been the case, and with the recent signing of Argentine defender Matias Mantilla, Besagno has been bumped farther down RSL's depth chart.

There's no guarantee that will change in 2008 either. Besagno will still be a teenager next year, and there's a chance the coaching staff might still be leery of handing him so much responsibility. Considering the rave reviews, that's hard to imagine.

"He's not just going through the motions, and I think the coaching staff will tell you, he's been at a different level this year, things we didn't really see last year," said Pope. "He's grown exponentially as a player."

Whether it's been enough to earn more playing this year and next is still a very grey area.

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E-mail: jedward@desnews.com