Kellyn Acosta will be wearing red, white and blue this weekend, but it won’t be under the lights at Toyota Stadium.
On Sunday, Jurgen Klinsmann named Acosta to his list of 26 players called in ahead of the U.S. Men’s National Team’s two World Cup qualifying matches over the next 9 days as the U.S. looks to advance past CONCACAF’s Semifinal Round.
For Acosta, it is his first call-up to the Senior National Team ahead of a competitive match.
“I'm definitely very grateful. It's a proud moment for me and my family. It just shows that my hard work has been paying off,” Acosta told FCDallas.com. “I’m just glad to have the opportunity to go out there in my first real call-up - besides January camp. These games have some meaning behind them, so it's a very surreal feeling to throw on the patch again and I'm excited for the opportunity.”
After playing in the U-20 World Cup last summer, Acosta made his USMNT debut in that January camp as a late addition to the roster and played a full 90 minutes in a pair of friendlies.
Klinsmann has previously said that he considered calling Acosta into competitive Senior team rosters earlier in the year, but felt his talents were more crucial for the U.S. U-23s as they attempted to qualify for the Rio Olympics. Now, it’s the recently-turned 21-year-old’s turn to play on his biggest National Team stage yet as he looks to make the 23-man game day rosters.
“It's been like a roller coaster,” Acosta said of his busy season both with and away from FCD. “It's been a hectic year, but that's part of the soccer life and I'm grateful for every opportunity that's been given to me. I'll just make the most of it when it comes. I'm just really excited to be a part of the squad and hopefully I can continue down that path and be a regular on the Senior team.”
“It means a lot for the club and it means a lot for Kellyn too,” head coach Oscar Pareja said. “It's a good reward for him. He's having a very good season, more regular than his others and showing that he's growing a lot. For us it's good. As coaches, we want to keep them in these key games, but at the same time it's well-deserved for him.”
Of the four-team Semifinal Group C, the U.S. sits second in the table - three points back of Trinidad and Tobago and one point ahead of Guatemala - heading into the final two matches. With the top two teams advancing to the Hexagonal, these two matches could make or break the Americans’ quest for Russia 2018.
And although he didn’t want to look too far ahead, Acosta couldn’t deny thinking about the possibility of making a World Cup roster in less than two years - should the Americans finish qualification.
“That would be a dream come true. That's my biggest dream would be to play in a World Cup,” he said. “I think I'm slowly creeping up [on the National Team roster] and writing my name down on the list so I think right now I just need to keep working hard and keep doing what I'm doing with FC Dallas and hopefully future call-ups [will come] and I'll be with the World Cup squad as well.”
The U.S. will face St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Friday, Sept. 2 at 2 p.m. CT (beIN SPORTS) on the small, Central American island before flying to Jacksonville to face group-leading Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday, Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. CT (FS1). Acosta’s Dallas teammate Aubrey David plays for T&T and has also been called-in for their World Cup Qualifying matches.
