The following is part of the latest edition of The Sovereign, Real Salt Lake's matchday program.
The Star Spangled Banner can take on a whole new meaning to immigrants who come to America and eventually earn their U.S. citizenship. That wasn’t the case for Real Salt Lake midfielder Danilo Acosta.
Since earning his citizenship on May 20, Acosta has stood at attention for Real Monarchs as the anthem played. He’s slipped on the U.S. National Team jersey with the U.S. U-20s in a tournament in California. And he’s celebrated Independence Day. At each event, he has felt the same pride and acceptance as an American that he felt since moving to Utah on August 22, 2010 – a date he has etched in his brain after escaping the violence and poverty of San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
That didn’t halt his exuberance when he completed his testing to become a citizen, though.
“It was a dream come true. I never thought that I would become a U.S. citizen. My family was really happy and I want to thank the people in the organization for RSL and the U.S. National Team for helping me to get my citizenship,” he said. “I’ll be honest. It doesn’t feel any different. Ever since I came here, my parents told me I was a permanent resident of the United States, so I had the same rights as everyone else. When I got my citizenship, I was happy, but I’ve considered myself an American since I arrived.”
The journey to Real Salt Lake was a tumultuous one for Acosta. After arriving at the age of 12, he initially lived in the shadows of Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah. After three years, he moved down to Arizona to be part of the Casa Grande, Arizona-based RSL Academy, where he was a standout for three seasons before signing with RSL as a Homegrown player on December 29, 2015.
That time was difficult for his family as it planted its roots in a Utah community while Danilo was on his own in Arizona.
“Sometimes it was painful for my family. I was in Arizona and traveling everywhere and it was really hard for me,” he said. “My parents were working and they would go the extra mile when they needed to do stuff for me.”
He found solace on the soccer field, where the Academy
His newfound citizenship comes during what has already been a very busy year for Acosta. He has been a regular with the U.S. U-20 National Team, including three matches in a tournament in California from June 29-July 3 that saw him score his first international goal.
All the while, he has been a consistent contributor for Real Monarchs in the USL, logging 558 minutes in nine appearances through the month of June. He has also been on the bench for a few matches with Real Salt Lake. He has the luxury of learning from players like Kyle Beckerman and Sunday Stephen at the MLS level, getting valuable experience on the field at the USL level and all of those experiences at various levels help shape him in his first professional season.
“The spectrum of games he can play in and the amount of games that he can be exposed to at high levels is awesome,” RSL General Manager Craig Waibel said. “Now it becomes a matter of the personal growth and the development of him as a person to learn how to take away those pieces to learn and acknowledge the successes that he’s had.”
His acceptance with his club at every level and his welcome into the U.S. Youth system is a large influence in his unchanging emotion upon passing the test to become a U.S. citizen this year.
To Waibel, it says a lot about the Salt Lake community and Real Salt Lake’s place in it.
“For him to feel that type of comfort and for it to validate what he already felt as opposed to having a surprised feeling in that moment is probably the largest compliment that we all could ever have as a club, as a community and as a country,” Waibel said. “When you have a young man that’s experienced the things he has and moved here and identifies and feels comfortable that’s quite a compliment to everyone that he’s been treated with enough respect throughout the years of his life that this is what he identifies with and is proud of it.”
