FC Cincinnati's Luciano Acosta talks USMNT, U.S. citizenship and being the face of MLS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As soon as you arrive at any of Major League Soccer’s 2023 All-Star Game events, you are directly or indirectly in the presence of Luciano Acosta.

A poster of the FC Cincinnati captain greets all comers at the check-in counter at the J.W. Marriott Hotel at 1331 Pennsylvania Ave., one of the league’s hub sites for its annual summer showcase.

In his downtime, Acosta can be found holding court with family and friends in the hotel lobby. There, he's happy to greet peers, officials from other clubs, fans and autograph-seekers alike.

At Monday’s training session for the MLS All-Stars at American University, a picture of a jovial Acosta made the rounds on social media. He was enjoying the company of former teammate and now-D.C. United head coach, Wayne Rooney.

“Yeah, I was actually trying to convince him to come back to D.C.,” Rooney, the MLS All-Star head coach, said jokingly during a Tuesday news conference when The Enquirer asked about the image.

Of course, Acosta was up on the dais alongside Rooney. USMNT and FC Dallas star Jesus Ferreira was there, too. Together, they helped preview Wednesday’s All-Star Game at Audi Field against Arsenal FC, the heavy-hitting English Premier League side that led England's top tier for most of last season before fading to second place late.

As Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta emerged to take his turn on the dais with "Gunners" players, Acosta was right in the mix as both groups posed together for a pre-match photograph.

Seemingly everywhere you look at this year’s All-Star festivities, Acosta has some kind of presence . It’s a far cry from the 2022 All-Star Game in St. Paul, Minnesota, where Acosta and FCC teammate Brandon Vazquez were something of an afterthought.

Neither player was featured on the proverbial marquee of that event, and both were substituted into the match with Vazquez playing about 17 minutes and Acosta playing the last 28 minutes.

Is Luciano Acosta the face of MLS?

The 2023 All-Star Game has a decidedly Orange and Blue tint. Acosta is leading the way and will captain the MLS team against Arsenal.

On Tuesday, participated in multiple skills-challenge events with a select group of MLS players against Arsenal, too.

His prominence in this game is a credit to what he's produced so far in 2023, which might be the best soccer of his career.

Acosta has four goals and five assists in FC Cincinnati’s last six matches, and a single-season career-best 12 goals with 11 matches still to play. Mostly through his offensive end product, FCC reached the month-long pause in the campaign for the first edition of a new in-season tournament with a 15-2-6 record and a league-best 51 points.

Cincinnati tied the 2019 and 2022 Los Angeles FC teams as the fastest to eclipse 50 points in the standings (23 games).

"I think his game has developed over the years. I think he's become a better player, a more mature player, obviously captain of Cincinnati, and rightly so," Rooney said Tuesday of Acosta. "One of, if not the best player in MLS. So, I'm delighted for him with the development of his career... And hopefully, for him, because I know it'd be great for him if he could get into Europe because I think he's got all the potential to still do that."

Rooney's comments came after Acosta's fellow all-stars heaped praise on him during Monday interviews. Given all that, it's reasonable to say Acosta is considered a marquee player for MLS.

“It is very different this year. Different city, different coach having Wayne here but it’s good to come into this moment in a good moment for the team,” Acosta told The Enquirer Tuesday. “And at this time last year, I didn’t have 12 goals… That’s something that I work for every single day, to be among the best. There are a lot of players in this league who are very talented.

“I work very hard every day to be a face for this city, to be a face for this league.”

FC Cincinnati shining as a club at the ASG

Acosta is joined at the 2023 All-Star game by two teammates in left back Alvaro Barreal and center back Matt Miazga. That makes FC Cincinnati the most-represented MLS club at this year’s event.

That FCC has three players participating in Wednesday’s match, and that the club is putting together a potentially historic 2023 season, has grabbed the attention of the players on other MLS clubs.

Last year's All-Star game wasn't anything like this for Acosta and Vazquez. Back then, FC Cincinnati was seen nationally as a nice organizational redemption story by the All-Star break. The club’s 8-8-8 record and sixth-place standing in the table at that point in the season was a significant year-over-year improvement for the organization.

FCC didn’t warrant much consideration beyond that until later in the regular season, though.

“The other players, they’ll come up and say, ‘Wow, you guys just keep winning. You guys are going for big things this year,” Acosta said. “They talk about how nice the stadium is, how nice the field is. They talk about the city, and that’s sort of the conversations that we have when they ask about FC Cincinnati.”

A presidential run-in for Luciano Acosta at the White House

Acosta enjoyed one of the great thrills of his life Monday at the White House when, during a community-initiative event attended by first lady Jill Biden, President Joe Biden made an unexpected appearance and greeted several players and dignitaries.

Acosta was one of the few that had the opportunity to shake the president’s hand.

“I’m one of the very few people even there that got to shake hands with him and exchange words with him,” Acosta said. “How many people can say that they’ve shaken hands with the president? I don’t think I’ve washed my hand still. But, you know, I had the chance to walk up to him. Maybe I said, ‘Hey, I’m Luciano. Can you give me some citizenship?' But no, I truly am very lucky and very fortunate to have had that experience.”

Acosta, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was joking about requesting citizenship directly from Biden, but pursuing U.S. citizenship is very much a focus of Acosta’s life now.

He’s now in the midst of the citizenship process. News of Acosta undertaking that process turned heads in American soccer circles because it would clear a pathway for him to represent the U.S. Men's National Team – an eventuality that’s well within the realm of possibility given Acosta’s form and that he’s still just 29 years old.

The fact that Acosta is pursuing U.S. citizenship for reasons both professional and familial made images of him at the White House all the more poignant.

“Obviously, we’re going through the process but it’s something that I want to be a part of,” Acosta said. “This (FC Cincinnati) project is something I want to be a part of. This country is something I want to be a part of. My daughter was born here. She’s a part of this country, so that’s why I want to work toward doing this.

“When we were at the White House and I was standing next to Walker Zimmerman, we were joking like, ‘Ah, should I ask him (Biden) for the citizenship?’ But this is a process and it’s something that I want to be a part of.”

Asked how much soccer factored into the decision to pursue U.S. citizenship, Acosta said, “Football is everything.”

“I look at it and I look at the national team and the challenges and the cups that they’re competing in and I want to be a part of that," Acosta said. "It’s tough to put it into a percentage in terms of football versus family and life but, if we’re talking about football, it’s all about football and being a part of the national team. If we’re talking about my family, I would love to be a part of this country and be a citizen.”

Acosta said it was his dream to play for the USMNT in the 2026 World Cup that will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, adding: “I’m practicing the national anthem.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Luciano Acosta, FC Cincinnati midfielder, shining at MLS All-Star Game