Four months ago, as he was riding a bus from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, Danny Cepero didn't think he'd be where he is now. Heck, four weeks ago, he didn't think he'd be the starting goalkeeper for the New York Red Bulls, helping lead the club to its first appearance in the MLS Cup Final.
But the 23-year-old from Baldwin, N.Y. is taking it all in stride -- the notoriety that came with becoming the first MLS goalkeeper to score a goal, on his debut no less, making critical saves in stunning playoff wins on the road against Houston and Real Salt Lake.
"In terms of thinking I'd be thrust into playoff situations and be looking at an MLS Cup Final, absolutely not," Cepero said. "At the same time, though, it's a dream come true. I'm having fun with it. I'm on the field and having fun and enjoying the guys around me."
Cepero, who was on a season-long loan with Harrisburg of the USL Second Division, was the center of attention in a media conference call on Monday afternoon. He was asked a bevy of questions, from how he's handled the performance-enhancing drug suspension of Jon Conway, who had played every minute of every game before Cepero started against the Crew on Oct. 18, to his education and his father's Cuban heritage. Just as is the case on the field, Cepero handled it with aplomb.
"I think it's a credit to the guys as a whole, the team as a whole and coaching staff for preparing us to go into hostile environments you can literally feel that pressure coming down and you can feel the fans and everybody going against you," Cepero said. "To kind of withstand that, get through it and hold onto a lead and play 90 minutes of football, I think, is a tribute to their mental toughness and strength. It's so important at this level."
Coming off the biggest win in the history of the club, it was back to work for the Red Bulls on Monday. They were back at Montclair State University for training, back preparing for a game on the weekend.
Despite a mediocre regular season, which saw the Red Bulls give up 48 goals in 30 games, the club has made a dramatic turnaround in the postseason, giving up just one goal in three games and have back-to-back clean sheets heading into the MLS Cup.
"I think it's a tribute to the whole team the mentality we're not going to give up a goal today," Cepero said. "That's the most important thing, where if you don't give up a goal you're not going to lose. It gives us a chance to absorb some of the pressure that they're going to throw at us especially on the road."
That attitude has a lot to do with Osorio, who prides himself on having his team be responsibly defensively while picking its chances to attack -- as was the case in road playoff wins at Houston and Real Salt Lake.
"If we defend properly, we are competitive," Osorio said. "We play within the rules, we're aggressive in a controlled manner, if we play for each other, we play with each other, we compete for each other and we just keep clean sheets, we'll always have a chance to score goals, as we proved in the last games."
Osorio also defended himself against critics who claim his team plays negative soccer.
"Some people out there have said that I'm a very defensive minded coach and I take it as a compliment," Osorio said. "I think, as Danny mentioned and as I always say to the players -- if we keep it to zero, keep a clean sheet, we'll always have good chances because we also work very hard in attacking topics and in top-level football, as I keep saying to the players, you only have to win one-nil."
Osorio defended his philosophy by using Chelsea FC as an example, that the Blues might have spent millions of pounds on attacking players, but won the English Premier League crown with 18 1-0 results.
His team has done the same of late, but it has taken a while.
"I think it has taken some players longer than others to realize that that's what it takes to play professional and to get results at the professional level," Osorio said. "And I just have to be responsible enough and intelligent enough to make the decisions that we need to do at any game."
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