FRISCO - A 20-year-old found himself in the Budweiser Beer Garden at Toyota Stadium during Saturday’s 4-1 win over the Portland Timbers. No, the underage kid wasn’t grabbing a beer mid-game, but he was celebrating his second career MLS goal.
Belated birthday boy Kellyn Acosta has really began to mature in the midfield as of late, and Saturday saw another stellar performance of his that extended his goal streak to two games after assisting in the team’s first goal of the night.
“That quality that Kellyn has of being ambidextrous; he brings it to his right, brings it to the left and no problem,” head coach Oscar Pareja said. “That was an excellent picture of a kid from our academy that made us proud.”
Acosta picked up his second goal of his MLS career in the 70th minute against the Timbers in elegant fashion. Acosta dribbled down the middle and cut with his right foot to juke past Timbers’ midfielder Diego Chara, setting up a perfectly hit crack with his left foot from the 18-yard-box. This comes after he notched his first goal last week against D.C. United.
“I thought the defender was going to step up so it kind of slowed me down a little bit which helped me actually take my time and look up and find the corner, so I’m lucky for that,” Acosta said on the goal that made it 3-0 for FCD.
The goal wasn’t the only highlight of Acosta’s night. He was able to be the backbone of the team’s first goal in a counterattack in the 12th minute that set up winger Michael Barrios’ first goal of the match. After winning the ball in FCD’s defensive-third, Acosta took the ball downfield and after a pair of passes got the ball back and squeezed to Barrios inside the box.
“I’ve felt more comfortable and more confident,” Acosta said. “Oscar and the players have given me all the confidence in the world. I’ve been finding myself in good spots, and more importantly, I’ve been hitting the target.”
This is the third straight game Acosta and homegrown Victor Ulloa have started as defensive midfielders. The two have been able to take control of the midfield and work off one another to have one push up and the other hold. The chemistry has been a key success, according to Acosta.
“We’re just recognizing each other and what we need to do,” Acosta said. “Developing that relationship has been helping us tremendously and having a strong middle is like the core of the team, and I think we’ve been doing a good job.”
