We Need To Talk About Lucho Acosta

Upon announcing Lucho Acosta’s acquisition on February 11th, FC Dallas piqued the the local and national soccer sphere’s interest. On a roster that looked like a rebuild around standout forward Petar Musa and keeper Maarten Paes, Acosta was meant to supercharge things. A dynamic in his prime former MVP to play alongside a Golden Boot candidate isn’t the move of a squad shrinking in the shadows of a reconfigured stadium.

Yet as we sit 12 games into the MLS campaign, Acosta’s presence hasn’t brought the offensive fireworks that would lead Dallas up the table. In fact his time in Dallas has been less shock and awe, more confusion and wondering.

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So today let’s examine Acosta’s 2025 season to date, what’s happening and what’s not, why it’s not, and how Dallas can get the most out of their enigmatic superstar.

(All stats per FB-Ref unless otherwise noted)

The Road So Far

Acosta’s season in the context of the team hasn’t been a total disaster. He’s tied for the team lead in goals, joining Musa and Anderson Julio with three. His durability isn’t in question either; Acosta has the third most minutes MLS minutes played on the squad behind Osaze Urhoghide and Sebastien Ibeagha.

In addition Acosta is second on the team in shots, first in shots on target, and second in total xG. He leads Dallas in Shot Creating Actions by a wide margin, 55 with the next player Musa at 18. His SCA/90 is top 20 in MLS as a whole.

All that sounds great, right? So what’s the problem?

While Acosta is doing well at creating shots, his goal creation has been greatly reduced. So far in 2025 Acosta has two Goal Creating Actions, putting him at 0.18 per 90. That puts him on track for roughly six GCAs over the entire season. For context, his GCA numbers in Cincinnati:

• 2021: 19, 0.63
• 2022: 30, 1.08
• 2023: 29, 1.00
• 2024: 29, 0.97

In short: Acosta is on track to have his worse goal creation season since his second season with Liga MX’s Atlas in 2020-2021, where he only had seven. For MLS context Lucho ranks 109th in GCAs and 186th in GCA/90. In 2024 Acosta was 2nd in GCA/90, only behind Lionel Messi. 2023 he was also 2nd, this time to Thiago Almada.

Why isn’t this happening?

We’ve established the problem: the supreme goal generator isn’t doing so at his historical rate. Why isn’t he?

Some of it comes back to what Acosta’s best known for: passing. 2025 Acosta isn’t as lethal moving the ball in the ways that matter as previous versions. For example: This season Acosta has 38 live ball passes that lead to a shot attempt. That extrapolates to 114 over a full season, give or take. Should that hold, it’d be his lowest number since the 2021 MLS season when he had 97.

This Lucho is also less confrontational than previous editions. So far in 2025 Acosta has zero take-ons leading to either a shot or goal. His previous numbers of take-ons leading to shot starting in 2021: 31, 15, 22, 26. This is a byproduct of another problem: Acosta isn’t attacking the opposition as much in 2025. With only 47 take-ons this season, he’s on pace for his lowest number in MLS. Same with successful take-ons at 18.

This paints the picture of a player who isn’t unleashing great passes to enable teammates, nor is he using his personal wizardy to vex opponents 1v1 before scoring. Considering those two things were what made Acosta the special superstar that Dallas wanted, their disappearance is alarming.

How come those abilities have disappeared? I’ve got a couple theories.

It’s not him, it’s you

Did I come up with this theory before or after I had the idea for the meme?

No comment.

Even so, there is a chance (although not one I’m ranking highly) that Acosta’s level is higher than those around him to the degree that it’s causing him to be out of step with his teammates. Specifically the way he sees the game, which if nothing else is still intact.

This is more eye test than anything else but watching Acosta in game often he’ll make a different pass than whoever hopes to receives anticipates. They either make a different run, no run at all, or just the opposite of what Lucho intends. There’s a possibility that the way Acosta sees the game is so at odds with his squad mates that it’s causing disorientation.

If that’s the case however, there’s no reason a player the quality of Acosta couldn’t adjust. Toning down the ambition feels easier than ginning it up. Alas as optimistic as “Lucho Acosta is just so worlds better than everyone around him” is, I suspect it’s just that: optimistic.

The actual culprit I fear is a combination of the following two theories:

Lucho has lost a step and he’s yet to adjust

Let’s be clear about what this means, because I think some will interpret it as “Lucho is bad now.” That’s not what I’m saying at all. What I am saying is as age and the league are catching up to Acosta, the margins around him are changing.

The half second speed advantage he might have had two years ago could be gone. His mental processing might be a tick slower, which still means he’s in the top 1% but the difference is enough that it requires adjustment. His dribbling ability might just be “really good” as opposed to “best in the world” caliber.

There’s nothing wrong with any of that by the way…as long as Acosta’s aware of it. He might still be operating under the auspice that he’s 2023 Acosta, not 2025. If that’s the case, a moment of self reflection and re-calibration is necessary. The skills to be a great MLS player are still there, as is the training ground work ethic. Figuring out what that looks like in 2025 and beyond could be the first step in Lucho’s next stage.

Dallas lacks an cohesive offensive identity

Out of the three options presented, this one feels most likely

Watching Dallas on offense through the first third of the season has been perplexing. I can’t say the club is executing their strategy poorly because there’s no clear strategy. Every game presents a different display of offensive ideas with often the same disappointing outcome. Without a structure or principles of play, there can be no sustained success.

That applies to Acosta because brilliance on the field requires structure. Consider his tenure in Cincinnati. Pat Noonan had a specific way he wanted that team to function, a structure that everyone either fit within or didn’t last. Acosta as a result knew exactly what to do, how to fit his skills within what Noonan wanted, and what his teammates were going to do. The structure of Cincinnati’s system enabled Acosta to do magical things, because he could focus less on the mundane and more the extraordinary.

If you want a non-soccer summary explaining structure’s importance, this TED Talk on the freedom of structure is worth your time. It helps explain the concept.

With Dallas there is no defined system, no structure from which to work. There’s not even a defined formation; Dallas has used at least four so far this season: 4-2-3-1, 3-4-3, 4-3-1-2, and 4-2-4. Despite Quill’s insistence upon arrival, the high octane offense has not manifested. Dallas isn’t getting forward aggressively, they’re not taking shots at a high rate to test keepers, and they’re not asking enough questions of opposing defenses.

Dallas’ opponents are shutting their offense down simply: flood zone 14 with defenders. No matter where Dallas starts their offense 90% of the time it ends up back right in front of the 18 yard box. It all funnels centrally and teams know that. So by the time Acosta or anyone else arrives with the ball in that area, they’re met with an army of opposing defenders. There’s no 1v1 opportunities if you’re surrounded by three or more people.

This all begs the question: How do you fix it and by extension Acosta?

Define an offensive philosophy

Acosta or not, Dallas’ future hinges on Eric Quill and company figuring out what they want to be on offense. Right now it’s a camel, a non-cohesive system lacking in defining ideas.

Those ideas by the way can’t be “Find Lucho” or ‘Find Musa.” Those are player dependent, and when one of them goes out (like Musa did prior to his return against Real Salt Lake) the house of cards crumbles. Establishing “This is what we do and how we do it” regardless of personnel is the first step.

An example: Minnesota. The Loons took apart Miami 4-1 this past Saturday, and their identity is crystal clear:

• Be hard to break down on defense
• Be hyper aggressive in transition
• Generate and be great on set pieces

Those are all things you can coach, drill, and establish regardless of who is in your starting eleven any given week. It also enables the great players you have to innovate within that space. Case in point Minnesota’s fourth goal from Saturday:

When you know what you’re doing most of the time, it allows for magic like this. It’s a beautiful piece of soccer, but consider how it worked: Oluwaseyi knows his runners are coming because that’s what they know to do. So he can hold the play up and instead of making the first potential pass, he waits for the less obvious one. Why? Because he knows Lod or someone will be there.

This is what structure and principles can help create. It doesn’t really matter which one Dallas adapts, but they need some with a quickness.

Get Lucho more space

As mentioned above, part of Acosta’s problem is the ball (and by extension him) end up in the same place every time. His more central mentality is hurting the team, but in the 4-3-1-2 that Dallas is employing the result ends up funneling play more narrow.

If narrow isn’t working, let’s go wide.

Something like this I think would be ideal:

Yes Acosta as a winger looks weird, but that’s not entirely the plan. This idea would start Acosta out wide, but give him the freedom to operate in all the space on the left side. The intent being he can pull defenders wide when necessary, opening up that zone 14 for Musa, Julio, or the three midfielders.

On the times when Acosta wants to move inside, it’d be on Norris and Moore to move up the wide channels and send balls in via crosses. Again, this forces opponents to move defenders outside the middle and defend. All that opens up the sweet spot of goal scoring, and it means on the times you’d pass in to Acosta he’d have more space to distribute or shoot.

This creates a basic structure from which Dallas can work: Staying wide in attack, industrious in defense via the midfield triangle, and put bodies in the box ready to receive crosses. No matter who starts or subs in, this is a system that can be replicated. It’s an identity, a foundation upon which to build the house.

Which in turn would allow for innovation within. How this mutates and changes would be fun, and Acosta would be at the center of it seeing as he’s a football genius. Give him and his squad the tools to succeed, and you’ll find wonder as a result.

Regardless of the specifics however, something has to be done and fast. Dallas can’t afford a continuance of this version of Acosta over an entire season, because it means their season will be just as disappointing.

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