Playing a ball to Landon Donovan, David Beckham and Robbie Keane with the Los Angeles Galaxy, or defending against the New York Red Bulls’ Thierry Henry, are experiences the vast majority of 21-year-olds can only have virtually.

Then, there’s Tommy Meyer.

What would be a PlayStation world for everyone else is a real stadium, with real superstars, in real games, for the defender from St. Louis. As a rookie with the Galaxy, Meyer finds himself training with and playing against guys he admired as a kid.

A dream come true? Sure. Fun? Of course. But serious stuff.

“I grew up watching these guys, and to play with them is pretty unbelievable,” Meyer said over the phone recently. “But that oh-wow feeling went away after the first couple of practices.”

There’s no room for oh-wow feelings because Meyer is looked upon as a potential boost for LA’s defense, probably the team’s weakest area. The defending champions of Major League Soccer embark on the regular season without Omar Gonzalez, who manned the central defense along with A.J. DeLaGarza. Gonzalez, named to the league’s best XI each of the past two seasons, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during his first training session on loan to Germany’s FC Nurnberg in January. He is expected to be out for at least the next four months.

Not coincidentally, later in January, the Galaxy picked Meyer in the first round of the MLS SuperDraft.

“It’s unfortunate that Omar got hurt the way he did, but someone has to step in, and there’s a couple of us fighting for that spot,” said Meyer, who turns 22 on March 20.

Meyer and Andrew Boyens, a 28-year-old New Zealand international, are the leading candidates to play alongside DeLaGarza. LA coach Bruce Arena started Boyens in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal with Toronto FC on Wednesday, March 7. Meyer got the nod in the MLS season-opener Saturday night, March 10. Meyer played 84 minutes against Real Salt Lake in a 3-1 loss for the Galaxy. Meyer was on the field for two of Real’s goals, one of which was an own-goal off the Galaxy’s Sean Franklin.

That Meyer would even be considered over a five-year MLS veteran such as Boyens says volumes about Arena’s belief in the youngster out of St. Louis U. High and Indiana University.

“During the camp (MLS Combine in Lauderhill, Fla., just before the SuperDraft), Bruce Arena talked to Tommy and was hoping that he’d be around when LA picked (in the draft),” said Tommy’s father, Keith.

Like son, like father: Keith was a high-level player, too. After playing at St. Mary’s High School, he helped Indiana to consecutive NCAA championships in 1982-83. Keith played briefly in the Major Indoor Soccer League with the Kansas City Comets at a time when there were no lucrative professional outdoor soccer jobs. (The North American Soccer League expired in 1984, leaving the United States without a major pro outdoor league until MLS started in 1996.)

The contrast between the soccer opportunities available to Keith and those for Tommy lead to some good-natured kidding.

“My father had to find a real paying job,” Tommy said.

“Working two or three hours a day, enjoying what you do, and to be in California with the best club in MLS . . . you can’t beat that,” Keith said.

But Keith knows better than most about the effort that Tommy has put in to reach this point. “You know, it takes a lot a lot of hard work and a lot of training not only with your college or high school or club team, but training individually,” Keith said. “There’s a lot of sacrifice that goes into it.”

The payoffs came early. Tommy played for St. Louis Scott Gallagher and at SLUH, and trained with the U.S. U-17 team in its full-time Florida residency program. He started 16 games as an Indiana freshman in 2008. He was an All-Big Ten selection in his last two seasons. Coincidentally, he and his dad are the first father-son combination to play soccer in the storied program at IU.

Having seen his son play so often, and with the knowledge he has about the sport, Keith speaks with authority when describing Tommy’s attributes. “Tommy knows the game, understands it, and is able to read it,” Keith said. “For a back, he’s pretty technical, and his distribution is spot on. Those are his strengths.”

He’s also 6-2 and 175, which helps in the fast, yet physical, world of high-level soccer. “The physical aspect during restarts is definitely something I have to get used to,” Tommy said. “The other things are the ball movement and the movement off the ball. Guys are a lot smarter with their runs and everything is just faster.”

Meyer’s job in the LA scheme of things differs little from his career at Indiana, Meyer said. “My role is just to play defense, and when I get the ball, try to find that playmaker, David (Beckham) or Juninho.”

Meyer’s comments came the day after a preseason match with the New York Red Bulls. “I played against Thierry Henry,” Meyer tried to say matter-of-factly. “I just have to be ready for anything because those players are at a different level.”

Although it must still be a bit hard to comprehend that he actually “played against Thierry Henry,” Meyer tries to be realistic. “My goals are just to get some starts under my belt throughout the season,” he said.

Adds Keith: “We were extremely excited when LA chose him. They’re kind of like the New York Yankees of soccer. We’re just proud of him.”