BY SENIOR EDITOR

RIDGE MAHONEY

For practical reasons and its ultimate survival, building soccer-specific stadiums is an absolute necessity for MLS. Bricks and mortar, though, are boring. The Home Depot Center is a masterpiece of engineering and aesthetics, but it's a building. It can't dribble or skin defenders or score goals. The pulse races not solely because of its mere existence but because of what it presents and showcases.

At a press conference in New York tomorrow MLS will unveil another vital component to its longevity: an exciting, talented player.

A league that has no hope of signing the world's greatest players has nailed the next best thing: Freddy Adu. In hoopla unprecedented in this country for a soccer player, Adu has been heralded and exalted and praised.

Living up to that hype won't be easy, but staying home is the perfect start.

Many Americans have no clue about the sport, but they know what a young phenom is. And to the aficionados, Adu is a supremely gifted mystery who has been glimpsed at the under-17 level.

Luckily for American fans, they will have the rich opportunity to watch him develop, at least in the formative stages. A six-year deal with MLS, free of encumbrances from other clubs, allows him the latitude to first taste the pro game at a suitable dose. He will be given every chance not to fail. (Restrictions on signing non-EU players younger than 18 made it difficult for big-name European clubs to sign Adu.)

Playing for D.C. United and living at home in Potomac, Md. is the ideal way station to greater glory. His progress won't be an ascent of a crowded club ziggurat amid boardroom upheaval and managerial changes, but rather how he handles himself in the pro grind, day by day, week by week, month by month.

The deal is reportedly worth about $2 million, and that's a gamble for a league still scraping by from season to season. Foreign coaches and officials know that dozens of brilliant ''can't-miss'' youngsters have failed at the pro level and that tempered somewhat the competition for his services.

MLS didn't have to foolishly outbid those European powers interested in Adu, for only in America can he play as a minor. The league will profit handsomely down the road if it sells him to one of those major clubs.

And when he plays at a packed HDC, American fans will bask in the best of both worlds.