USMNT: Will Kellyn Acosta benefit from Colorado Rapids trade?

One of the more surprising trades in Major League Soccer occurred on Monday as Kellyn Acosta was traded to the Colorado Rapids via his boyhood club FC Dallas. Will it benefit the USMNT hopeful?

The future of the United States Men’s National Team is very bright but the path to the World Cup in 2022 and other competitions ahead may not go as many would have planned for certain players’ careers.

A player’s career can have many ups and downs which can affect their ability to contribute to the national team depending on their performance at club level. You have to be playing well domestically to be considered on the international stage.

This rings true for one Kellyn Acosta.

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The FC Dallas boy is entertaining the first real challenge of his career. On Sunday, reports stated that Acosta would be sent to the Colorado Rapids in exchange for striker Dominique Badji and the first round pick in the 2019 SuperDraft as well as an international roster spot. It only took one day for those reports to be confirmed with Acosta being announced by the Rapids on Monday.

The USMNT hopeful is going to face an uphill battle in Colorado with a struggling club. The past few months have not gone well at all for the 23-year-old midfielder. He has only started one match in the last 30 days.

After successful stints with the national team, Acosta had come on the radar as one of the most promising young players in the league. And to some extent, he is still regarded as such. Having been a homegrown product of FC Dallas, he is a testament to the impressive academy the Texas club has established. That’s what has to make this move tough for Acosta. But moving away from the club always seemed to be destined. However, Colorado wasn’t the team many had pictured Acosta landing at.

In May, with ESPN FC, Acosta talked about how his dream is to play in a European league. Many were excited to potentially see the USMNT prospect make an appearance in a foreign league in hopes of getting a better picture of the full potential of the midfielder. But that clearly isn’t going to happen in the near future.

The Rapids are not necessarily a bad club for Acosta to join. He is almost certain to get a wealth of playing time with the worst club in the Western Conference. That is something he has not received in Dallas and he still has the chance to impress European clubs if he can pull together a decent run of form till the end of the season.

This is going to be a massive test for Acosta. But if he can pull through and deliver good starts week-in-week-out, then he should be able to stay on the radar of the U.S. National Team. However, if he continues to struggle, the upcoming international friendlies may not include him.