Ricardo Pepi is young. He is unproven, untrained and incomplete. He could use a few more lines on his resume and possibly a few more pounds on his slim frame.
But because it has become equally clear early in his career that Pepi has the abundant intangible, priceless and often short-lived magic that is most prized in football – because, in other words, he scores goals – None of the above stuff particularly matters.
Pepi, 18, may or may not be a future striker for the United States men’s soccer team. Many have tried to make the number 9 spot in football parlance, and most have been unsuccessful. But questions about Pepi’s long-term viability, his upper hand as a player, can wait. For now, qualify for the World Cup. And there is no doubt that Pepi is the American striker of the moment.
Eric Quill, who coached Pepi at North Texas SC in 2019 and 2020, said, “The pressure is nothing for him – I think he likes it, much more than his age should allow.” “No. 9s, when they’re in great form, it’s like, ‘Watch out.’ And I think he is as confident as he comes now.”
Ready or not, Pepy is being asked to shoulder a heavy responsibility on her teenage shoulders. After making his debut with the United States senior national team two months earlier, he was the only pure striker to be called up by coach Greg Berhalter for the team’s two World Cup qualifiers this month. The first of these was a marquee match against Mexico on Friday night in Cincinnati, where the United States won 2-0.
The display of faith, if risky, is understandable: Pepi, who played professionally for FC Dallas in Major League Soccer, collected three goals and two assists in his first four appearances with the United States. He has been one of the most consistently bright spots even in the team’s somewhat volatile starts to the qualifying tournament.
Pepi in particular is the youngest player in the youth team. (“Lose Yourself” was the top song in the country by Eminem when he was born in January 2003, and Tom Brady only had one Super Bowl ring at the time.) The youth of the U.S. team has once been a point of pride (when things go well) go) and an excuse (when things don’t go well).
But the team’s disastrous failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup has helped coaches justify turning over a new leaf – track records tarnished. Pepi is a symbol of the desire to make a new beginning more than anyone. He’s totally capable, the personality of a blank slate.
Yet his rise could not be more timely. In recent years, the USA program has seen promising players sprout up across the region. (The American attacking midfielder, for example, seems to multiply like Jack Rabbits.) But the center position has long been a barren patch.
“It’s the best decision I’ve ever made.”
, @ ricardo_pepy9 on choosing #USMNT I#USAvMEX x @allstate pic.twitter.com/KeWKBngGZQ— US Soccer MNT (@USMNT) November 10, 2021
Brian McBride, who played from 1993 to 2006, remains the gold standard for American strikers, according to former national team striker Hercules Gomez. Gomez said Jozy came closest to filling Altidore McBride’s shoes. Countless others have been hypnotized, but few have followed suit.
Gomez, now an analyst with ESPN, said of the Strikers’ revolving door, “We can start to name a lot.” “A lot of players have been put in the role, but not a lot of people have taken the reins.” He laughed and said: “I was one of them.”
Gomez said Pepi was crude but undoubtedly promising, showing a sharp trajectory of improvement in the past year alone. “I think her mindset is her strongest feature,” Gomez said. “He’s just so hungry. He’s got this ego about himself. Borderline cocky. A swagger for him.”
This can happen in the penalty area, but Pepi is known as an introvert in most other situations. In conversations with news media, for example, he has a tendency to carefully sift through the initial beats of a response before settling on the phrases used first. (For some athletes, the problem with playing well is that people want to talk to you.) This type of shame can be a concern for a coach, were it not so easily and so brutally shed on the field Was.
“He was always kind of cornering himself in the dressing room,” said Francisco Molina, former scouting director for FC Dallas, who met Pepi when he was playing in the team’s youth system. “On the field, he was a loud, screaming, rebellious kid.”
The first thing Molina noticed about Pepi was her spindly frame. (“Like a deer baby, he said.”) The second was his steady stream of goals: He could score them with his right foot or his left, with his head, his knees and shoulders and shins. He can find almost any way to put the ball in the net.
“He has that instinct,” said Molina. “She’s a pure 9.”
These skills have attracted interest from top clubs in Europe. Among those tracking Pepi’s development, there seems to be agreement that his next move should be careful, conscientious – a spot on a good team in a medium-profile league, perhaps, or a medium-profile one in a top league. one of the team. ,
“You’ve got to go somewhere where you play right away,” his American teammate Chris Richards, who made a similar move to Europe from FC Dallas at 18, said last week in an interview with the website Transfermark. “Sometimes you get caught up in the big names, but that may not be the right situation.”
There also seems to be a consensus on one area where he can improve the most: playing with his back to the target. In those situations, Pepi prefers to throw the ball quickly to a teammate in order to propel himself again. He doesn’t seem quite as comfortable holding the ball yet and faces a physical challenge from a defender, the kind of pause top strikers must master to give their teammates time to build an attack around them. needed.
For Pepi, the key may be as simple as putting on some muscle. “At high levels, center backs, most of them are athletic animals,” said Quill, Pepi’s former youth coach. “He has a slim frame. He has to work out a lot in the gym.” Molina agreed. “His body hasn’t reached his brain yet,” he said.
Pepi’s football brain and body will continue to develop, but his heart was already tested last summer, when he was forced to represent the United States, where he was born, or Mexico, his It was the parents’ house.
Pepi grew up in San Elizario, Texas, a working-class town just outside El Paso. He spoke Spanish at home, followed Club America of the Mexican League, vested for the Mexico national team and idolized its stars. It was natural for them to move seamlessly between cultures, just as it might for the countless children of immigrants around the world.
In the end, Pepy chose the United States because of the comfort he had developed with the federation, and because of the opportunities the team offered to help him grow. “Follow your path,” Pepi said when asked what advice he might give to another Mexican American player facing the same choice. “Make your decision with your heart.”
Michael Orozco, a fellow Mexican American who played 29 matches for the US national team, was pleased with Pepi’s choice. But he warned that Pepi can expect criticism, even vitriol, from Mexican fans, perhaps as Friday night progresses.
In 2012, Orozco scored for the United States in a friendly match at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium, helping the Americans to their first victory on Mexican soil. Orozco, who was playing in the Mexican League at the time and now plays for Orange County SC of the USL, said he was criticized by his club teammates for scoring and, worse, for celebrating. Orozco said he has no regrets, and hopes Pepi will have no regrets either.
“He’s starting to prove himself,” he said. “Now, he has to live up to the potential.”
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