Pepi makes Eredivisie team of the month for still-struggling Groningen

If Groningen avoids relegation, Pepi will be an enormous factor

Whatever happens to Groningen this season, no one can say that Ricardo Pepi let them down.

The U.S. men’s national team striker made the Eredivisie team of the month for February, joining a team almost entirely comprised of players from the league’s three historical giants.

Pepi has been directly involved in nearly half of Groningen’s goals this season, and scored twice in their four February matches. Those games didn’t exactly go well for Groningen β€” they went 1W-2D-1L in February, and remain in the relegation zone β€” but that win did at least break an 11-game run without a victory.

In fact, by Eredivisie relegation scrap standards, Groningen’s five points this past month is actually pretty good. Collectively, the league’s bottom six teams won just three games in the month, and Groningen’s 3-0 win over Excelsior (who sit in 15th place, making them the final safe team in the table) on Saturday got them within three points of surviving this season.

Pepi wasn’t the lone CONCACAF representative on the list, as Mexico defender Edson Álvarez (Ajax) ended up on the team as well. The Eredivisie team of the month is determined by some blend of fan voting and data from Stats Perform that is probably better not known.

The USMNT striker may have tilted the vote in his favor with a little recency bias, as he saved his standout performance for that Excelsior victory.

Pepi scored a clinical goal, took five shots (more than Excelsior’s entire team managed on the day), and completed four of five attempted dribbles as Groningen got a win they probably couldn’t do without.

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