Kellyn Acosta: ‘The brain is the most powerful tool you have—it’s the strongest muscle’

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more accomplished American soccer player in MLS than Kellyn Acosta. Born in Plano, Texas, to a Japanese-American father and an African-American mother, Acosta grew up in a predominantly white community and was used to hiding his Asian heritage to avoid being bullied at school—he was already enough of an outsider for preferring a “foreign” sport like soccer. Acosta joined FC Dallas’s academy in 2009 and rose through the ranks for both club and country, helping the United States reach the Round of 16 at the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico, before becoming the youngest member of the U.S. squad at the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Türkiye.

“The turning point was right when I joined the FC Dallas academy and had to stop all of these other sports like basketball, football, and track. I had to go to a totally different school because that was what the academy did at the time. We went to Frisco Liberty, and that’s when I changed my focus and had to hone in on playing. I was thinking, ‘Okay, is this the next step to getting that professional contract?’ It wasn’t until my freshman year, when I was training with the first team on a consistent basis, that I went from playing on one field for the academy team to a field across the way with the first team,” stated Acosta in an exclusive World Soccer Talk interview.

“I was at the professional level; they knew my name, they were asking me questions, and I was enjoying myself. I was there not just as a body, but I was holding my own and feeling comfortable. I was 15 or 16 years old, playing against guys twice my age who were embracing me, and I really felt like I could perform—like I belonged. It was when I was starting to train with the first team that I thought, ‘Okay, I’m not too far away.’”

These impressive international displays, combined with his superb performances at the club level, prompted him to decline a move to the University of Maryland’s soccer team and sign a Homegrown contract with FC Dallas. He was named the 2011/12 U.S. Soccer Development Academy Central Conference Player of the Year. Acosta was forced to wait a year due to eligibility rules before finally breaking into the first team in 2013, making the first of 302 MLS appearances in a 3-0 loss at Seattle before starting in 11 of Dallas’s final 12 matches of the season.

Acosta commenced 2014 as the starting right back before undergoing surgery for an avulsion fracture of the kneecap, missing the next four months. He rebounded with an impressive 2015 season, scoring four goals and recording one assist in 26 appearances for Dallas, and starting four of the U.S.’s five matches during the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Acosta evolved from a fullback to a central midfielder under Dallas manager Óscar Pareja, where he has remained ever since, earning praise from leading MLS pundits like Taylor Twellman and Glenn Davis and helping Dallas win its first trophy in 19 years with the 2016 U.S. Open Cup, as well as its maiden Supporters’ Shield. While he impressed in Texas with 13 goals and nine assists in 139 appearances, he was unable to lead Dallas to a first-ever MLS Cup before being traded to the Colorado Rapids on July 23, 2018, in exchange for Dominique Badji.

Living outside of the Dallas metropolitan area for the first time while raising a newborn son, Acosta adapted to his new surroundings and led Colorado from one of the third-worst records in MLS in 2017 and 2018 to an inspiring but ultimately unfruitful hunt for a playoff spot in 2019. Colorado took things up a notch in the following decade, finishing with the best record in the Western Conference in 2021. Acosta’s imposing performances in the middle of the pitch garnered the attention of U.S. Men’s National Team manager Gregg Berhalter, who recalled him after more than two years out of the picture. After closing out 2020 with a return against El Salvador (his 24th cap overall), Acosta became the first USMNT player since 1994 to earn 21 caps in a single calendar year. Two months after beating Mexico in Denver in the CONCACAF Nations League Finals, Acosta provided the assist for Miles Robinson’s 117th-minute winner against Mexico in the 2021 Gold Cup Final in Las Vegas.

“I’d probably say that my best performance was in the 2021 Gold Cup Final versus Mexico, where I had the game-winning assist. I was just flowing; I was tackling, I was on the ball, and I felt like I could run for days. I was in a different mindset. Just two months prior, we had beaten Mexico in another final, so this was another opportunity to win at home in Vegas. It was almost the last kick of the game, and I was thinking, ‘If I can just put it in a good position…’ We had some big boys in there, and I just let them fight. I was able to deliver a good ball in, and Miles was able to finish it. It was definitely sweet to contribute to the win and have a game-winning assist, but the most important thing was just holding the trophy up. It was my second Gold Cup that I was able to lift, which was a special moment. 2021 was a special year for me.”

Having already won the biggest international trophies in North America in 2017 and 2021, Acosta got his hands on the most coveted trophy in U.S. club soccer in 2022. After racking up seven goals and seven assists in 82 appearances for Colorado, Acosta headed west for LAFC, who acquired him in January 2022 for $1.1 million in General Allocation Money. He emerged as an indispensable figure in midfield as LAFC won the Supporters’ Shield and its first-ever MLS Cup title, opening the scoring in the final against Philadelphia. He didn’t have much time to celebrate; instead, he headed to Qatar and became the first-ever Asian-American to compete in a FIFA World Cup, playing against Wales and Iran.

After a 2023 season that promised much but failed to deliver major silverware, Acosta moved to the Chicago Fire on February 13, 2024, where he quickly emerged as a fulcrum in midfield. However, despite linking up with Berhalter in the off-season, Acosta went from starting the season as the captain to riding the bench during the latter months of the 2025 campaign, failing to play a single minute in four of the team’s last five matches. Acosta, who has a contract through 2026 with a club option for 2027, is more keen than ever to refuel after a challenging year and prove that, at 30 years old, there’s still plenty of “oil left in the tank.“

“I think the biggest thing, as you experience more years, is the mental side of it. You become more mature and you’re able to attack situations with a different mindset. The brain is the most powerful tool you have—it’s the strongest muscle. For me, it’s taken some time to get to this point. The physical aspect comes and goes; there are injuries and the physical output of the game, but the mental side has helped me. It paved the way for where I’m at. I could have fallen when I was out of the national team some years back, and that could have been it for the USMNT—you would have never heard my name again. But I was able to shift my mindset to overcome that hurdle. I think I’ll overcome this hurdle as well. After a tough year, I’m going to really fine-tune some things this off-season, and I’ll be ready to go.”