Context : Massive clusters are more often found in actively star forming galaxies than in quiescent ones , similar to the Milky Way .

Aims : We have carried out an extensive survey of obscured Milky Way clusters to determine whether our Galaxy is still forming such objects .

Methods : Near-infrared spectral classification of some probable cluster members was used to derive the distances to the cluster candidates .
Isochrone analysis of deep near-infrared color-magnitude diagrams allowed us to obtain age and mass estimates .

Results : We report the physical parameters of three cluster candidates :

RCW 87 is \sim 25 Myr old , located at a distance of D \sim 7.6 Kpc in the general direction of the Galactic center .
Adding the mass of the suspected cluster members we obtain an estimated total cluster mass of \sim 10300 M _ { \odot } .
The mid-infrared photometry indicates that some next-generation star formation is on-going in the associated H II region , probably triggered by supernovae or stellar wind from the older stars in RCW 87 .

The brightest member of [ BDSB2003 ] 164 is an O5 V type star , based on our spectroscopy .
This limits the cluster age to less than a few million years .
The estimated total mass is \sim 1760 M _ { \odot } and the distance is D \sim 3.2 Kpc .

[ DBSB2003 ] 172 lacks central concentration and most likely this is not a cluster but an extended star forming region .

Conclusions : The high mass of RCW 87 – if confirmed – puts this object in line with Arches and Quintuplet , among the most young massive clusters in the Galaxy .
Further study is necessary to confirm this important result .