When Marcucci – now a teammate to world stars Emil Forsberg and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting – arrived in the New York Red Bulls locker room, he was every inch the outsider. It was a long way from the adulation of college, where his .50-per-game goals against average made him a huge star in a small pond. One of the first players to introduce himself to Marcucci was Ryan Meara – and anyone who knows the long-time RBNY back-up keeper will not be surprised to hear it.
“He’s just one of the best people ever,” Marcucci said of Meara, the veteran goalkeeper, who, in 2017, guided the Red Bulls to the Open Cup Final and was a legend of our tournament through his 12 seasons in New York. “When I was playing in the second team, he would always come by to see how I did.
“He looked out for me,” Marcuci admitted of Meara, who retired in January of 2025 at the age of 34 – and whose place Marcucci has taken as a reliable go-to guy in Open Cup play. “He’s been texting me through all these Open Cup games and it’s unbelievable to see how happy he is for me.”
Marcucci, it must be said, has been getting lots of texts. After seasons of grinding in the Red Bulls second team, and out on loan in faraway Finland for a spell last year, his first consistent minutes of first-team play have come – as they so often do for young 'keepers – in the U.S. Open Cup.
“It’s just awesome to be out there,” he said, thinking back to his first start: A 4-1 road win over Division II powers the Colorado Springs Switchbacks in this year’s Round of 32. “People always tell you, when you’re not getting minutes, that you’re still contributing to the team – but it just doesn’t feel like it.”
The next test for Marcucci, hoping to keep his place as coach Sandro Schwarz’ first choice in Open Cup play this year, was a thriller at home against FC Dallas in the Round of 16. “You give up a goal and it becomes a rollercoaster of emotions,” he said of a wild game that finished tangled 2-2 after 90 minutes of regular time and 30 more in OT. “I was never worried. I have so much faith in the team in front of me.”
When it came time for the penalty shootout, however, it was just young Marcucci and the shooter in soccer’s version of the Old West gunfight. There’s nowhere to hide and no one to lean on. And the first pistolero Marcucci faced was one Lucho Acosta, 2023 league MVP and MLS mega-star.
Open Cup Shootout Heroics
Trying to pull off a delicate Panenka, Acosta’s effort kept rising until it bounced off the crossbar. Marcucci, who’d committed to his dive, popped up to his feet and – in the heat of the moment – shouted something in the general direction of the veteran All-Star. “It was nothing, just something that happens in a game,” Marcucci said. “It was a cheeky thing to try and it didn’t work out.”
The shootout is a rare opportunity for the goalkeeper to become the overt hero – to wheel off in celebration instead of being the last to the party. And when Dallas’ Pedrinho stepped up, needing to score, Marcucci felt the moment in all its fullness. He dove left, made the save and that was that – the Red Bulls were on to the Quarterfinals.
The young goalkeeper’s celebrations with the home fans in the South Ward, members of his family among them, spoke to the magic of a moment. “It’s a moment like you dream about,” Marcucci said after his Man of the Match performance.
“A magician never tells his secrets,” he laughed when asked about his approach to the shootout – and shootouts in general. “But just knowing that strikers are supposed to score is a big, big source of calm for me. It’s not on me to make the save, it’s on them to score.
“It’s been a long road to get here,” added Marcucci, living the unlikely life of a pro and facing a July 9 Open Cup Quarterfinal against high-flying Philadelphia Union (LIVE on Paramount+ and on air at CBS Sports Network). “These opportunities are a blessing and something really I couldn’t have imagined a few years ago. Being a part of this, hearing the fans celebrating, being in the middle of it – in a win-or-go-home situation – it’s unreal.”
Fontela is editor-in-chief of ussoccer.com/us-open-cup. Follow him at @jonahfontela on X/Twitter.
