In the run-up to MLS Cup, the story continues to be Danny Cepero, and here's the latest angle: it's not just for sporting reasons that the RB New York goalkeeper is happy the team's season has been extended with every unlikely playoff win. Each further game has given him a valid excuse not to hand in his history essay on the decline of the European Empire following World War Two.

Cepero, 23, who stepped up to the NY stopper spot following Jon Conway's 10-game suspension for breaching the league's substance abuse policy, is still a student at the University of Pennsylvania. On Thursday he skipped his weekly class on 'The End of European Empire' to catch a plane to Los Angeles for MLS Cup. It is not known whether he sent a note to his professor, Anne Antonoff, explaining that, "Sorry, but Dave van den Bergh ate my homework."

"He does a good job of keeping up with the work," said Antonoff. "He's got a serious job as a soccer star, but he's also got a serious job as a college student." Cepero needs to complete the class to clinch his degree, and has a 30-page term paper due on the topic once MLS Cup is over. "That paper is going to blow my mind," Cepero said, "because it's been two years since I've done anything like it."

 

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