Luciano Acosta's USMNT hopes should grow with Pochettino's Diego Luna call-up | OneFootball

In an interview with Backheeld published earlier this week, Luciano Acosta shared he is still hopeful he can gain U.S. citizenship in time to be considered for Mauricio Pochettino's U.S. men's national team squad ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

On Wednesday, Acosta's camp received the biggest public indication yet that Pochettino might be open to the idea: His rationale for calling in Diego Luna back into USMNT camp for upcoming Concacaf Nations League fixtures.

Luna was one of a few recent January camp standouts to make this closer-to-first-choice version of the U.S. roster, which will play its Nations League semifinal against Panama on March 20. But it's Pochettino's explanation of why Luna is back with the Yanks that should be music to Acosta's ears.

"Different things"

"He’s a player that can provide different things during the game, and I think it’s important for him to feel the confidence from us," Pochettino said. "And I think he was good in the January camp, and as well we wanted to provide the possibility to train with us again."

The focus here should be on the phrase "provide different things," which in Luna's case we can surmise means an elite ability on the ball in tight spaces, either to connect quick one-touch passes or take on defenders himself, combined with a physical tenacity far larger than his frame suggests.

That's definitely a skillset that is somewhat rare in the current USMNT pool. It also overlaps with a lot of the traits that make Acosta a perennial MLS MVP candidate these days.

To the extent that Luna and Acosta are similar, the disparities lie mostly in Acosta being more fully formed and far more conditioned to being the primary focus of opposing defenses. That's not a knock on Luna; at age 21 it's pretty normal to have spent most of your career as a team's secondary or teritary threat. But if Pochettino values the solutions Luna provides, then he is definitely going to covet those that Acosta could bring to the table.

The latter is a more dangerous dribbler, a more dangerous passer and a more efficient finisher. If Luna has Acosta beaten anywhere it's in defensive workrate, but that probably has as much to do with their club teams' respective tactics as their own skills.

We don't know for sure if Acosta's citizenship will come through in time to provide a realistic window for evaluation. We also don't know how the non-football side might shake out. Acosta and Pochettino are both Argentine, which could create some hazards in trying to negotiate the rest of a dressing room that isn't. Or Acosta might not fit well with the group for any number of other reasons.

There's still a lot that could prevent his eventual assimilation into the USMNT squad. But if Acosta needed a reason to believe, he got one on Wednesday.