CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — Ricardo Pepi is back on track after returning to the U.S. national team after a year away.
Surprisingly left out of the 2022 World Cup squadPepi joins Folarin Balogun and Haji Wright in the forwards as the United States prepares for friendlies against Paraguay on Saturday and Uruguay on Tuesday, the penultimate training camp before Mauricio Pochettino calls up his players for the World Cup.
“There were a lot of contradictions,” Pepi said Thursday. “I feel like I’m in a really good place right now. My main focus at the beginning of the season was staying healthy.”
Pepi, a 22-year-old from El Paso, Texas, has played in 33 international games and scored 11 goals. He made his Major League Soccer debut with Dallas at the age of 16. Transferred to Augsburg, Germany in January 2022. After failing to score in 16 games with the German club, he Will be loaned to Groningen for most of the 2022-23 season and Contract with PSV Eindhoven for 2023-24 season.
In the same year’s league games, he started one game and made 26 substitute appearances, and in the 2024-25 season, he increased his playing time and scored 17 goals in 28 games so far. Tortured meniscus in right knee during match against Liverpool on January 29thto end the season.
“I basically had to stitch it back together,” Pepi said. “That’s why it took so long.”
Pepi has scored five goals in 12 appearances for PSV this season, including three in the Dutch Eredivisie and two in the Champions League. He started four consecutive games, but injured his left hamstring in a league game against Excelsior on September 27. Although he was out of action until October 18, he made six consecutive second-half appearances and scored goals against Napoli, Fortuna Sittard, and Olympiakos.
“Of course, the last few months have been difficult. Of course there were a lot of inconsistencies in the way I felt and the way I played,” he said. “In the last few weeks, I’ve noticed while training that I’m starting to feel more myself, the way I move, the way I hit the ball, the way I hit the ball. I think it’s only recently that I’ve started to feel like my body is in good shape and I’m healthy again.”
“I felt that way in training,” said defender Joe Scully, who sits next to Pepi.
Pochettino said he hoped his players would earn selection for the national team by appearing regularly for their clubs. He had to make an exception for Pepi and Midfielder Gio ReynaHe played just 150 minutes for Borussia Mönchengladbach this season.
“If they can play every game, it would be great for us,” Pochettino said.
“They need to be motivated that we care about them,” he added. “They need to know that they are in a race to qualify and qualify for the World Cup. … They need to be like animals and do everything they can to reach their best and feel really strong.”
Wright, who scored in the 3-1 second-round defeat to the Netherlands at the 2022 World Cup, scored twice in a friendly against Australia last month and has eight goals in 14 league appearances for Coventry in the English Second Division Championship this season. Balogun scored against Japan in September and Ecuador in October, and has four goals in 10 games for Monaco in France’s Ligue 1.
“At some point it’s going to start taking longer,” Pepi said. “So you know it’s important to just be patient.”
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