Dude, he has had trouble with the MLS level at times. Hence his move from Dallas. This isn't just training, some people's brains have trouble making sense out of chaos on the field. And not just Acosta. One of the best players in the world, N'golo Kante is an amazing defensive midfielder but as he moves forward and the crowds get thicker, his game is less impressive.
Acosta had a good spring of 2017 and then played well for the USMNT in WCQers and the Gold Cup. Then he got hurt right when a move to Europe was supposed to be coming. He completely lost his momentum. There were comments from him that indicated he lost some of his "love for the game." FCD traded him (In hindsight getting very little in return. They were set to get a big portion of his transfer fee, but that clause expired).................and even then it seemed to take him a little while to get back on track. The guy does have more caps for the USMNT than John O'Brien. He's past the point of being a fringe guy. He seems to be a solid USMNT pool player that looks increasingly likely to play a role as we head to 2022. We've got some young guys charging hard, so we'll see if he can fend them off. Its like people consistently saying Gyasi Zardes isn't of the quality to be a USMNTer. Hello? The guy has 62 caps. The guys he recently passed included Geoff Cameron, Kyle Beckerman and Fernando Clavijo. He's about to pass Brad Guzan and Pablo Mastroeni. What makes you "USMNT quality?" Being in the USMNT.
I think he quite simply lost his love of the game for a year or two. There are some videos out there of his last games with FCD in 2018 where he looked like he wasn't trying at all. Attackers were blowing by him like he wasn't there. The coaching staff covered for him by saying he was returning from injury. It wasn't that. He was/is a high motor, high desire, high engine guy that had lost that desire. What we've seen in this Gold Cup is what Kellyn Acosta CAN do. As long as you keep that as his job, and don't expect him to be a deep-lying playmaker.............he'll do a very good job. Reminds of the endless criticism Kyle Beckerman used to get on these boards. But he did the job Klinsmann asked him to do very well, culminating in a good performance at the 2014WC.
Yeah, I was going to ask if Beckerman would be a good comparison for Acosta in this Gold Cup tournament (which I was not able to view).
Soccer ability is generally broken down into four components- technical, tactical, physical, mental. Others use different terminology but they're all saying similar things. My sense is that Acosta is so so technically and tactically, but has a very good competitive spirit to go along with decent athleticism. Those first two limit him in becoming a top player. I sometimes wonder if someone like Acosta had come up in a more developed soccer culture, where young players place more emphasis on developing technical skills, if he would have become a much better player, given his competitiveness.
The way Acosta sometimes walks the line as a destroyer is beautiful to watch. I don't know why he goes quiet at times. I wish his passing was a lot better. But in at least 3 of these GC matches his disruptive talent was so great that it makes him worth the risk. He has to be the backup to Adams now.
I'm not sure. His inconsistent passing can be a real drawback. If the game turns into a physical battle Acosta is good to have, but in other types of games his flaws become more apparent.
I'd debate his tactical ability. You don't make 24 defensive actions or whatever it was in the semis without some good awareness of the play and the opponent's patterns of play and tendencies. He, like everyone, has a hard time stringing it all together. Some plays he's amazing technically (set piece delivery for example) or athletically (running his ass off at 120' for example) or tactically (aforementioned breaking up play) and he clearly, on his day, has the mentality (was jawing at the ref all game to bend him toward our side, was first to confront Mexican players but did so with controlled aggression). I think it's safe to say that career-wise, the second half of his 20's will be in a better place than the first half
In other words............................the types of physical battles we're likely to have against CONCACAF nations in WCQing. Acosta seems to be a perfect guy to bring off the bench as we're trying to kill off games in the 2nd half.
When Acosta first bursted into USMNT, he was also a target of transfer. But it was killed by club or league. Since then he seemed to lose drive for that with few more years of declining performance.
Dude. 1. IIRC Acosta pouted after not getting out of MLS and his game went flat at best. 2. Kante is less impressive out of position. But he’s ********ing Kante and that’s still a high ********ing level. Dude. Take a deep breath.
To me his only remaining worries are giveaways in possession (which he does too often), and the way he sometimes gets less active or involved for stretches. But that could be the opponent staying away from attacks up the middle.
I just feel really good for him, because he was left for dead..................................... He's regained his starting job on the USMNT FCD Academy XI. Tessmann took it for a short period, but Acosta has that midfield spot back.
I saw a fire in his eyes that isn't there all the time. He played with passion and focus. And he's not half bad when he does that.
PreNL I was very critical of Acosta. His passing and receiving were just such obvious liabilities and he wasn’t really impacting the game with his other attributes. In NL and the last two GC games he brought so much energy and bite that it made up for his shortcomings, and he reduced his bad turnovers. I guess I am going to have to trust Gregg to use him when training shows he is “on” or when the opponent is best matched to his contributions.
The funny thing is that when people were saying "Acosta is the CM of the future! and why does Jurgen insist on playing him out of position at left back?" I was one of those who thought there are guys younger than him who are the future of the CM, and left back is a place where we could stash a guy who could be a dead ball specialist." And when he got sent home a couple of years ago, and everyone gave up on him, I was one of the few who kept him pretty high on my fantasy depth chart at CM and LB. And now the future is here, and he's back to playing well, and he's maybe not a starter in CM, but the idea of hiding a dead ball specialist at LB is still viable. Although going to 3 CMs gives him wiggle room to actually start in the midfield, possibly.
Totally. Some of our best, most useful guys have been guys just like him: rangy, athletic, versatile, good feet, good brain. Geoff Cameron was huge for us and seems like a really obvious comparison. There are times in a game where he'd be playing LB out of CM and vice versa anyway, so why not. His set piece delivery is something totally extra. I've always felt if we had Geoff on the field in T&T we would've won that game. If we had 3/4 Acosta/Cameron types added in with all the others, we'd probably rule the world, no joke
He’s the answer to what was our biggest question; what to do without Adams and how do we put an end to this stupid DLP crap. Thank you Kellyn!!!
Leadership 101. Really cool story from Matt Turner how he got the captain's armband in extratime of the Gold Cup finalKellyn Acosta had it, but he put it on Turner's arm and said: “We’re going to need you to step up here and you deserve this.”Turner: “It was a really special moment for me.”— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) August 3, 2021
I think you have this exactly correct, and this development, by my own accounting at least, makes us at least two-deep at all 11 positions on the pitch. Which means that we need not fear a third match in hot San Pedro Sula on September 8 nearly as much as I thought we would. In fact, a rotated squad with that many fresh legs just might have enough left in the tank to take all three points from the older Hondurans who will also be playing their third match in 7 days. Which points towards a strategy, doesn't it? What other CONCACAF nation can rely on such depth? It behooves us to use it and make a competitive advantage of it. In some matchups I could see using Adams and Acosta, but I now see them for this next window as distinctly either/or for this purpose.
Kellyn Acosta drops a free kick onto the Meaty Forehead of Weston McKennie who finishes potently. Much-needed goal forged in the Dallas Youth Academy. Where would we be without that city’s magical pipeline of youth development 🇺🇸🙌 pic.twitter.com/dQzGKxoLoy— roger bennett (@rogbennett) February 3, 2022
Thought he played well last night against obviously inferior competition. Story of his national team career so far.