🇬🇹🇺🇸🇲🇽 Isaac Acuña goes for the bicampeonato & more
Cali-born, Mexico-raised & Guate-living, the 32-year-old isn't done yet.
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When I catch Isaac Acuña on WhatsApp he’s on his way to Guatemala City. It’s around a two-hour drive from Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, where the California-born forward plays for FC Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa.
A quick getaway to the big city makes sense after Sunday’s 1-0 win in the first leg of a quarterfinal series. He gets recognized in Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, a city he says loves soccer and loves its team. The stadium there holds 9,000 fans, plenty big enough for the city of just under 60,000 better known for ancient ruins and sugar growing than soccer success.
That’s changing, however, with the team (a Twitter account shortens its lengthy name to FC Cotz) getting to the first division in May 2019 and lifting the trophy two years later.
Acuña didn’t play much of a part in that run, battling through an injury that kept him out of all but a few regular season matches. He played a part in the playoffs, scoring in the first leg of the final in a 4-0 win over traditional giant Comunicaciones and on the field for the stunning conclusion as a pair of stoppage-time goals brought the score to 5-2 against Santa Lucía - good enough to lift the trophy with a 6-5 aggregate win.
This season, he’s played a much bigger role.
His 11 goals, including five from the penalty spot, put him second in Guatemala. He’s an important player for the defending champion as it looks to repeat.
It settled for a lot of draws this campaign, with eight wins, 12 stalemates and two losses good for fifth, but as Acuña notes, “It’s another tournament now,” and the team is confident it can get results against teams like Antigua, Comunicaciones and current opponent Malacateco and make another title run.
But why is Acuña here? He was a rising star in Mexico at the start of the decade, wanted by the U-23 teams of both Mexico and the U.S., and after winning a championship with Guastatoya earlier on had moved to the lower divisions of soccer in the U.S. After the New York Cosmos went on hiatus, however, Acuña was without a team and needing to find a place to call home.
“Where there’s a good offer I’m going to go and take my family there,” said Acuña, who moved back to Guatemala with his wife and daughter. “Thankfully, they’ve welcomed my family and me here.
“A lot of people, I think, underestimate Guatemalan soccer and don’t understand or maybe just don’t know about soccer here. It’s a very competitive level where you’re now seeing players who are well-known come here and the league is getting more competitive. I’m thankful to be where I am in Santa Lucia and to be here fighting for another title.”
Born in the border community of Calexico, Acuña developed his game on the Mexico side of the border, landing in the Club América academy and making his first-team debut for Las Aguilas at 19.
Unable to break in consistently with one of Mexico’s biggest clubs, Acuña soon was on loan with Queretaro, where he achieved some of his biggest career highlights. He scored three league goals, including one on legendary goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez, and felt things were going in the right direction.
Yet, he was dogged by allegations he wasn’t taking care of things off the field and says he listened to bad advice, rejecting an extension with América because he wasn’t eager for another loan stint. Instead, he signed with Atlante, never playing with Los Potros.
He later would see a bit of action with Celaya but left Mexico for Guatemala in 2016. Acuña says he doesn’t regret anything but does feel as though he has unfinished business in the country he considers home.
“Obviously I made bad decisions, personal decisions that worked against me. I listened to certain agents or took bad offers,” he said. “To be honest, all players have dreams.
“Despite my age, I’m 32, mine is be able to return and play one more time in Mexico.”
Sporting links between the countries have strengthened in recent years, with Mexican manager Luis Fernando Tena taking over the Guatemala national team and Jose Cardozo managing Municipal, one of the giants Santa Lucia took down on the way to the title in the spring, in his first job since leading Chivas.
Those ties are only one reason Acuña is still dreaming of a chance to make a Liga MX roster.
“First of all, I’m not that old,” he says with a laugh. “I think I’m in the best form of my career on the field. The first thing is to be champion in this tournament and close out the tournament and finish the contract I have here.
“From there, why not go to the U.S. or Mexico or get better at a team here or the team I’m at?
He’s had the type of campaign that make those kinds of dreams seem just within the realm of possibility.
With the wisdom earned from hard lessons as a young player, the skills he’s continued to hone in the intervening years and a willingness to go just about anywhere with his young family, Acuña may yet have one more go at North American club success in him.
First, he hopes, another title run - one that would mean even more trips to the capital. It’s tough to be incognito in a town of 60,000 when you’ve won back-to-back titles.