Danny Cepero, who won a starting position as the New York Red Bulls goalkeeper last season, has suffered through a dismal 2009. He communicates some of his frustration in the New York Times' "Goal" blog.

Cepero says, "While I appreciate the ability of my friends, family and even fans, to sugarcoat the current embarrassment, sometimes I wish they'd shoot me straight." He makes a call for honesty: "I believe that to somehow salvage what is left of our season, we as a team need to be honest with ourselves. We are awful, this is an embarrassment, and we most definitely need to fix it. We need to face our proverbial demons and somehow exorcise them. But that then begs the question: How in the world do you do that?" Cepero admits that in many ways he is at a loss for solutions. He likens the crushing feeling to drowning in quicksand: "The harder we try to get out, the deeper we sink."

But Cepero does come up with some simple and honest answers. Primarily, he says that no one should blame Coach Juan Carlos Osorio. He calls for the players on the field to find the passion and will within to succeed. "From a player's perspective you have to hold yourself accountable for the performance of your team," he says. "We are the ones on the field, we are the ones underachieving, we are the ones who control what happens."

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