Ricardo Pepi Wants to Get Back in Top Form for the U.S. National Team

Ricardo Pepi has returned to the U.S. team after a one-year absence. He is now part of a forward group with Folarin Baligun and Haji Wright as they prepare for friendly matches against Paraguay and Uruguay, the second-to-last camp before coach Pochettino selects players for the World Cup.”It’s been a lot of inconsistency,” Pepi said Thursday. “I feel like I’m at a very good spot now. I was mainly focused on staying healthy at the start of this season.Pepi is a 22 year old El Paso native who has 11 goals from 33 international matches. In January 2022, he transferred from Dallas to Germany’s Augsburg. He was then loaned out to Groningen to play for the majority of 2022-23 and signed for PSV Eindhoven in 2023-24. After failing to score 16 goals with the German team, he spent most of 2022-2023 with Groningen and returned to PSV Eindhoven in 2023-24.Pepi stated that they had to stitch it back together. “So that’s why it took so long.”Pepi has five goals in 12 matches this season for PSV: three in the Netherlands’ Eredivisie and two in the Champions League. He started four straight games before straining his left leg in a match against Excelsior, on September 27. He missed six matches in a row, but returned as a substitute for the second half of those games.”It’s been a difficult time, of course, the past couple of months. Of course a lot of inconsistency in the way I’ve been feeling and the way that I’ve being playing,” he said. “The last few weeks, in training, I began to feel like myself. Just the way that I moved, the way that I hit the balls, the manner of my strikes. I think it’s been recently where I’ve started to feel like I’m at a good place with my body and healthy again.Joe Scally, the defender seated next Pepi, said, “I see it in training, too.” Pochettino wants players to earn selection to his national team by playing regularly for their club. He’s had to make exceptions for Pepi and midfielder Gio Reyna, who had played just 150 minutes this season for Borussia Mönchengladbach.Pochettino stated that if they played every game, it would be great for us. But we must also understand that some players may struggle to play and still be very important to us.”They must feel that we are concerned about them,” Pochettino added. They need to understand that they’re in a race to win the World Cup, and to get a place in the World Cup roster. … They must give it their all to get in top shape so they can feel like animals.”Wright scored two goals against Australia in a friendly last month and has eight goals this season in Coventry’s League Championship, the English second tier. Balogun is a French Ligue 1 player who has scored in France against Monaco and Monaco’s Ligue 1 rivals, Monaco.Pepi explained that minutes would start to add up. “So you know just it’s just about being patient.Reporting by The Associated Press. Want to receive great stories in your email? Follow leagues, players and teams to receive daily personalized emails! Create or login to your FOX Sport account.
2025-11-13 22:48:58