E. RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- With Giants Stadium still empty, Danny Cepero walked across the field 90 minutes before the biggest game of the season for the New York Red Bulls, who needed a win against a Columbus Crew team that had already locked up the Supporters' Shield.
The rookie goalkeeper preparing to make his Major League Soccer debut in less than ideal circumstances was a relative unknown to the fans who had yet to arrive on Saturday night. But on Sunday, Cepero is the talk of MLS after becoming the first goalkeeper in league history to score a goal, launching a remarkable 81-yard free kick past Columbus Crew goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum.
Oh yeah, he also made two saves to help lift his team to a critical 3-1 victory and keep the Red Bulls' playoff hopes alive.
"This might be one of the best (debuts) in soccer history," Juan Pablo Angel said. "Apart from the goal he did really well and I'm really pleased for him because he's a great kid and he has tons of quality and I wish him well."
Jon Conway had played every minute of every game this year, but he, along with starting defender Jeff Parke, received a 10-game ban for testing positive for performance enhancing substances. The suspension came down on Thursday, which left the Red Bulls scrambling for a starting 'keeper two days before a massive fixture against Columbus.
There were three options -- Cepero, Terry Boss and Caleb Patterson-Sewell, all untested in terms of Major League Soccer. But Red Bulls goalkeeping coach Des McAleenan wasn't interested in an open tryout. He told Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio to give Cepero the nod.
"It's like your own child, you can teach him all the good things, but you don't know," McAleenan said. "They've got to go out and stand on their own two feet. You don't know until its time."
In preseason, McAleenan told Osorio he thought he would be best for Cepero's development if the 23-year-old go on a season-long loan to Harrisburg, Pa. of the USL Second Division (third tier). Conway was already anointed as the No. 1 keeper and veteran Zach Thornton was the backup.
"Young players need to play games," McAleenan said. "They're simply not going to get better. They could have the best coaching in the world, best facilities, but if they're not playing it means nothing."
After recording six clean sheets and posting a 1.00 goals against average in 18 matches with the City Islanders, Cepero retuned to the Red Bulls in late August. The plan was to play in some reserve matches, to sit on the bench during league games.
But those plans changed dramatically when Conway was suspended. Suddenly Cepero was thrust into the spotlight.
"[Friday] night was difficult trying to get to bed, even more difficult to take a nap this afternoon. There's no chance of that," Cepero said. "In terms of all the stuff beforehand, practice and stuff, it was as normal as it could be. The coaching staff and the players around me just encouraged me to treat it like any other situation."
Cepero touched the ball a few times, but wouldn't make his first save until the waning moments of the first half when he acrobatically parried Ezra Hendrickson's header over the crossbar.
"Of any of the goalkeepers on our club, he's by far got the best hands," McAleenan said of Cepero. "He's clean, he's quite agile. That save he made at halftime, I always laugh and joke and say that's his patent save."
It was a key save, not just because it allowed the Red Bulls to go into the locker room level, but because it was Cepero's first.
"I don't know if it was on camera, but I took a huge sigh of relief when I saw that I can get this one, I can finally make a save," said Cepero, who received a shaving cream pie in the face courtesy of center back Andrew Boyens in the locker room afterward. "There's nothing like getting that first save and breathing that sigh of relief and being like I've been here before."
Cepero would make one more save in the second half before making MLS history seven minutes from full time. A foul by Guillermo Barros Schelotto followed by a contentious meeting between Dave van den Bergh and Pat Noonan, who were each booked by referee Michael Kennedy, helped set the table for Cepero's kick by the Red Bulls bench.
After pushing his team up the field, the Baldwin, N.Y., native launched his kick 60 yards in the air and directly at goal. The Red Bulls defenders turned around to correct Cepero, saying that it was more important to put the ball in either corner with seven minutes left in regulation.
"The funny thing was that I think myself, (Chris) Leitch and (Kevin Goldthwaite) were kind of pissed that he just kicked it down the middle to no one," Boyens said. "We all kind of turned around and looked at him and said 'What the hell are you doing?'"
Cepero didn't see the ball bounce at the top of the 18-yard box and over Gruenebaum's head. Even after hearing the reaction from the crowd, he didn't know he had scored.
"I had no idea. I just put it in the general area with no intention of scoring and kind of hit it somewhere where my teammates could do something with it," he said. "I didn't even know it went in until I had to ask Kevin and be like, 'Uh, did that go in?' and he said, 'Yeah.' I go, 'Do I get credit for that?' and he says, 'Absolutely.' It wasn't until right then."
Cepero, who said he last scored as a central midfielder at Baldwin High School on Long Island, is now tied with Matthew Mbuta, Sinisa Ubiparipovic and Seth Stammler on the Red Bulls scoring list. Beside the shock value, Cepero's goal against the Crew was critical because it killed the game.
"I've seen a few flukes before, but this was different," Angel said. "This was great because of what it meant."
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