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A product of the Real Salt Lake Academy in Arizona, Danilo Acosta joined RSL in December of 2015. Born in Honduras, but spending most of his youth here in Sandy playing for Aztex, La Rocca and Sparta up until he joined the academy.
At only 18-years-old there is still so much potential with a player of his skill set and ability. He is the type of player that the club hopes to be able to groom through the academy and Monarchs to eventually have play in the first team at Rio Tinto.
2016 Ranking: Unranked
Signed with RSL: 2016
Acosta made no appearances for RSL in 2016.
Before signing with RSL in December Acosta had committed to play for UCLA’s NCAA Division 1 program. After considering all of his options he chose to pursue a professional career here in Salt Lake.
Acosta is promising young player with experience at both center-back and defensive midfielder though the expectation seems to be that he could grow into that holding/DM role. With Kyle Beckerman, Sunny, and Luke Mullholland holding onto that position quite tightly it was very unlikely that Acosta would see much time for the first team in 2016.
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Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
In March of this year, along with a few other RSL AZ graduates in Bofo Saucedo, Brooks Lennon, and Aaron Herrera, Acosta was called into the US U20 youth national team camp for the Dallas Cup.
With expectations high going into his second professional season we can only hope that Acosta is able to see more time on the field for the first team. There’s a real opportunity in front of the team with a player like Danilo. We’ve seen with Justen Glad that a promising young player, if given the chance, can truly shine and become a stalwart in your lineup.
Acosta could and should be the real heir apparent for the KB5 role as defensive midfielder. He can be that player that is solid on both sides of the ball with the vision to distribute and even score on occasion -- something that RSL desperately needs at this point. He should be (read: HAS TO BE) given a chance to show what he’s capable of.