Opportunity knocks for USMNT's Ricardo Pepi: 'I'm feeling ready to be the man'
Examine the career of any professional athlete, even the most wildly successful ones, and a story of intoxicating highs and devastating lows eventually begins to emerge.
Glory is fleeting for most. For months or years, things might not go according to plan.
Still just 21, U.S. men's national team striker Ricardo Pepi has already experienced a lifetime of ups and downs in the three years since he burst onto the international scene with a match-winning performance in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Honduras.
Pepi left MLS for the German Bundesliga a few months later, but struggled to settle in. He moved to the Netherlands and quickly found his feet, but still didn't make the USMNT roster for the main event in Qatar.
But he never stopped scoring goals, first for Groningen and then PSV Eindhoven, even if he has been used almost exclusively as a substitute by the Dutch champs.
Last season, one of the nine goals he managed in his 40 appearances for PSV sent the club to the UEFA Champions League knockout stage, yet he started just one time in the Eredivisie in all of 2023-24. It's been mostly the same story with the national team, with seven of Pepi's nine caps this year coming off the bench. His six goals as a super sub are second-most in program history.
"To be honest, it's been a long year-and-a-half of being patient on the bench, waiting to play 10-15 minutes every weekend. It got a little frustrating," Pepi told reporters on Monday from Orlando, Florida, where the U.S. squad is preparing for Thursday's Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal first leg in Jamaica. "I'm at a point in my career right now where I'm ready to either start or get more playing time."
Pepi has been getting more playing time recently, with two starts (and three goals) in PSV's last three league matches. While he remains firmly behind former Barcelona forward Luuk de Jong on the club's depth chart, this month presents a colossal opportunity for Pepi to cement his place as U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino's first choice up front.
Fellow center forwards Folarin Balogun, Josh Sargent and Haji Wright are out for the November matches against the Reggae Boyz because of injuries. Pepi appears to be next in line. And after working together in October — Pepi scored in Pochettino's debut, a 2-0 victory over Panama — the Argentine understands that the talent is there. Even if Pepi isn't the finished product quite yet.
"Pepi is a fantastic player but it's more about potential," Pochettino said earlier this week. "He's not playing too much in PSV but we understand it's because there's another experienced striker there. It's not easy for him to get his space. But for us now, it's a great opportunity for him."
A great challenge, too.
"I think he needs to improve," added Pochettino, who previously coached all-world attackers like Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Harry Kane. "We're going to be very, very tough with him to try to make him learn quick, to improve in all areas."
Scoring goals consistently is the skill that matters above all, obviously. And Pepi keeps doing that for club and county. He averages a goal every 69 minutes in the Eredivisie. Pepi has been even more efficient in seven career Nations League games, scoring every 52 minutes on average.
That sort of sustained success doesn't happen by accident.
"He does work on his craft every single day — there's not a day that goes by that I've seen where he's not out there after the rest of the team working on different areas, those last finishing touches," U.S. keeper Matt Turner said of Pepi on Tuesday.
"What makes him, in my opinion, really stand out, is that he tries things," Turner added. "All the best strikers are very inventive. He always wants to score, so he's always trying different things, trying new things."
Will Pepi get the time to show off some of those qualities this month as the USMNT closes out 2024?
"I'm feeling ready to be the man, to be the starter," Pepi said. "I feel like I've been proving that."
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports. A staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he has covered United States men's and women's national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.
