Stephen Elias is a member of the youth national team pool, one of the top prospects from the class of 2015 and perhaps in line for some more spotlight in the future.

Elias recently returned to New York after a successful trial with Pachuca in August.

“Pachuca’s head scout, Mr. Garces, believes that I did really well and he told my dad that Pachuca is very interested in me, but because I am not Mexican, there is nothing that can be done until I turn 18,” Elias told TopDrawerSoccer. “I intend to keep in touch with Pachuca, visit with them again and keep all my options open.”

The path to get to play in front of coaches and scouts at Pachuca has been a challenging one. Elias was one of the top players at the U14 and U15 U.S. Boys National Team camps in 2010 and 2011. Despite not making it into the picture for the U17 Men’s National Team during the qualifying run, he continued to enjoy a standout club career in the Northeast.

His quality kept him in the picture for the youth national team, but also earned him attention abroad as West Ham was keeping tabs on the forward in 2012 and 2013. However, an ACL injury and subsequent surgery in 2013 put him on the mend for a year.

Through perseverance and hard work, Elias returned to the field a year later and faced much different circumstances. The once-decorated player had to earn his right back into the upper-echelon. The Mexican club was one of the first to come calling.

“Pachuca scouts watched me play in Flushing, New York in early June as part of the Alianza de Futbol tryouts,” Elias said. “Unfortunately, I cannot attend the national event due to my commitment to the USSF academy program with the Red Bulls.”

Elias spent two weeks with the club in August. He said that he trained with the club’s U19 and U20 teams.

“We trained only once a day which was surprising to me,” Elias said. “Pachuca believes in training only once a day. They believe that one hard session a day is best for player development. League games are played on Saturday and scrimmages are held on Sunday for the reserve players. I could not play in the league games but I took part in the Sunday scrimmages. On Monday all the players are off and they work on rejuvenating their muscles and just relaxing.”

The New York Red Bulls academy player also noted the big difference between training in Mexico and the U.S.

“I thought that the training and scrimmages were very physical,” Elias said. “This was surprising to me. I expected the players to be technical and skilled, but I did not expect them to be that physical and aggressive. I play a physical game too, so I felt comfortable.”

The 17-year-old came away impressed with the facilities in Mexico.

“I thought that the facilities were just fantastic,” he said. “They had both grass and turf fields. When it rained, we played on turf. The gym had all of the most modern equipment and all the facilities were next to each other. We watched the first team practice and we also went to watch a couple of games in the stadium.”

Despite the success and positive impression he left on the Pachuca coaches and staff, Elias is back playing with the New York Red Bulls academy now and still a top prospect for the NC State 2015 recruiting class.