The hero

On May 4th, 1996, the 0-3 MetroStars played their third straight home game, this one in front of over 38,000 fans. In its previous three matches, the club has scored just one goal, but the debut of Roberto Donadoni and just the second appearance of Ruben Dario Hernandez gave fans some hope. Early on, it was not to be.

The MetroStars played well in the first half, holding most of possession, but again could not find the back of the net. Unfortunately, the second stanza started horrendously, as starting in the 51st, Tampa Bay found the net three times in the span of seven minutes; first, a Diego Viera goal off a Roy Lassiter pass, then a Carlos Valderrama penalty kick, and then Viera's second to open what seemed like an insurmountable lead. The Metro defense, backstopped by Zach Thornton in place of the injured Tony Meola, seemed in shell-shock. The thousands of fans, many of whom would turn their backs on the team down the road, were ready to do so now.

But then the game changed as in the 63rd minute, the Metros brought on their lone goal scorer up to that point, Giovanni Savarese, for Rhett Harty. Two minutes later, Tampa made a defensive change, putting on John Diffley for brace scorer Viera, as the Mutiny went into a defensive shell, trying to protect the lead. And in the 72nd minute, as the Metros' scoreless streak almost reached three full matches, Tab Ramos took a corner kick, which was headed in by Mutiny's Cle Kooiman with a spectacular arc and into the Tampa net. One could see Savarese race to pick out the ball to put it back into play.

It's a good thing he did, because a minute later, the Metros would score again. The ball was played into the box to Hernandez, who was interestingly enough wearing an all-black jersey as opposed to half-white-half-black one worn by the rest of his teammates. Rubencho flicked the ball onto the onrushing Savarese, who collided feet first with a Mutiny defender, and the ball took an unexpected bounce and went past the horrified Mark Dougherty to make it 3:2.

But that was not all for Metro. Just two minutes later, the improbable had happened. A Miles Joseph pass reached Rubencho just outside of the box; he dribbled deep into the area along the left edge with a Tampa defender on him, almost lost the ball, spun around, reached back for it, and then sent a cross to Savarese, who was parked in the middle of the 6-yard-box. The bicycle kick that ensued was stuff of legends.

But that was not all; with the game tied, the rejuvenated Metros kept pushing forward, and were unlucky to not score another one on multiple occasions. The shootout ensued, and Thornton came up big, as Lassiter was the only Tampa shooter to score. For Metro, Rubencho got one in the second frame and Ramos in the fourth, and when Mutiny's Ivan McKinley couldn't find the back of the net, it was all over, and the Metros had their first win ever. A one-point win, but a win nonetheless.

Of course, the trajectory of that day's heroes is as diverse as it gets. Rubencho would play just eight more games for Metro, not scoring a single goal, and adding just an assist to the two he earned that day. He would soon go back to Colombia, his name forever entrenched as the first failed savior in Metro history. Savarese would go on to set the Metro all-time record for goals, yet to be broken. And although these were not his first goals for Metro, the Legend of Gio was born on this amazing evening of May 4th, in the greatest comeback ever.