Tag: Ricardo Pepi

Augsburg coach: Pepi’s loan has worked out perfectly

Pepi has 10 league goals with Groningen this season

Augsburg head coach Enrico Maassen said the club’s decision to send Ricardo Pepi on loan to Groningen has worked out perfectly.

Pepi became Augsburg’s club-record signing when he joined in January 2022 for a fee of $20 million, but he failed to score a goal across 15 Bundesliga appearances for the club.

Just a few games into the 2022-23 campaign, Augsburg sent Pepi on a season-long loan to the Eredivisie. The American striker has responded with a standout season for relegation-battling Groningen, scoring 10 league goals in 22 games.

Pepi has been tipped to leave Augsburg on a permanent basis this summer, but while praising the move to send the USMNT forward on loan, Maassen also indicated he was looking forward to having him back at the club.

“The calculation worked out perfectly,” Maassen said. “That was the idea of giving him more playing time in a league that is perhaps not as physically demanding as the Bundesliga, but it still technically good.”

Maassen added: “We are very pleased that his development is going so positively, that he scores a lot of goals and is also in the national team. We look forward to him coming back soon.”

Augsburg sporting director Stefan Reuter echoed Maassen’s comments last week, telling Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung: “We are planning firmly with [Pepi] and have no intention of giving him away. Enrico Maassen rates him very highly.”

Pepi starred for the USMNT in the recent international window, scoring three goals over two wins against Grenada and El Salvador.

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The top young USMNT players and prospects in 2023

The stars of today and tomorrow are ready to lead the USMNT to a bright future

The U.S. men’s national team should have a bright future ahead.

With one of the youngest teams at the World Cup, the USMNT got out of its group and qualified for the last 16 in Qatar — a substantial achievement after missing the 2018 tournament entirely.

Now the focus shifts to the main event: the 2026 World Cup on home soil.

Several of the 2022 roster’s best young players should be back and right in their prime in 2026, and they should be joined by a host of younger players just starting to make their way in the game now.

Below are some of the USMNT’s best young players. For the purposes of this list, the player must be born in 2003 or later.

USMNT player ratings: Pepi and Reyna shine in narrow El Salvador win

The U.S. got over the line against El Salvador, but it was far from an easy night in Orlando

The U.S. men’s national team didn’t enjoy quite the same level of dominance on Monday as they did three days prior — but they got the job done anyway.

Days after a blowout win in Grenada, the USMNT was pushed hard by a well-organized El Salvador team in Orlando. But ultimately, Ricardo Pepi came off the bench to deliver the decisive moment in a 1-0 win.

The victory sees the USMNT reach the CONCACAF Nations League semifinal as they’ll look to defend their title from 2021.

Here are our ratings from a tense evening at Exploria Stadium.

USMNT player ratings: Pulisic dominates in Grenada rout

The USMNT’s big names sure played like it Friday night

The U.S. men’s national team was supposed to handle Grenada with ease, and it turns out that’s exactly what they did.

Returning to CONCACAF Nations League play for the first time since June 2022, the USMNT steamrolled the Spice Boys, scoring early and often in a 7-1 victory.

Just knowing the scoreline, even a person that didn’t see the game could probably divine some of the ratings here. Christian Pulisic was dominant from kickoff, Weston McKennie conjured up two goals, and Alex Zendejas marked his becoming cap-tied to the team with a goal. If you’re a USMNT fan, it was a fun Friday night.

With that in mind, our ratings for a game that was never particularly close:

USMNT ‘really believe’ recalls for Dike, Pepi will spark Nations League success

The USMNT striker job is still very much up for grabs

The World Cup didn’t mark the end of the U.S. men’s national team’s search for an every-game starter at center forward.

The USMNT’s CONCACAF Nations League roster saw some notable recalls and changes, but few caught the eye like interim manager Anthony Hudson bringing Ricardo Pepi and Daryl Dike in for a pair of games that he referred to as “must-win” while speaking to reporters on Wednesday.

“We’ve obviously not seen Ricardo or Daryl for for some time,” said Hudson. “We’re really pleased they’re both coming in. They’ve been away for a while, and we really believe that these two guys can help us in this camp.”

The choice to leave Pepi out of the USMNT squad at November’s World Cup was a surprise to many, with Gregg Berhalter calling on Jesús Ferreira, Haji Wright, and Josh Sargent instead. Dike, meanwhile, suffered a significant quadriceps strain in August that kept him off the field until three days after Berhalter’s 26-man roster was announced. None of that World Cup trio will be in the USMNT’s camp for March fixtures against Grenada and El Salvador.

At the World Cup itself, Wright was the only out-and-out striker to score (and it was one of the strangest goals of the entire tournament), Ferreira played just 45 minutes, and some of the minutes at the No. 9 position went to Gio Reyna.

Having to rely on Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah as the team’s chief goal threats isn’t by any means unworkable, but it’s no accident that the USMNT has kept the door open when it comes to forwards, whether the players are in the pool or not. Folarin Balogun would be a target for recruitment no matter how well things were going for the USMNT, but as long as no one has seized the starting job on a more regular basis, there’s added pressure to find a solution.

Club form for Pepi, Dike keeps Hudson’s attention

Pepi has been a menace in the Eredivisie, leading Groningen in goals and making the league’s February team of the month. For his part, Dike has five goals in his last 11 league appearances for West Brom, including three game-winners to help his side’s hopes of making the promotion playoffs in the Championship.

In other words, both have done what’s in their power to stay in the frame for the USMNT, and per Hudson — who said that he and other USMNT staff members had gone to Europe to watch both players in person — the recalls are exciting news.

“Ricardo, I understand the disappointment that he had missing out on the World Cup. I can’t imagine what that must have felt like, for a young player to go through that,” said Hudson on the Groningen striker. “He’s someone that we value. He did an amazing job for us in the last cycle… I think slowly now he is really finding form, finding confidence, and he’s been doing well. So we’re looking forward to him coming back in camp, and reintegrating him into the squad.”

Hudson said that Dike’s injury came at “an unfortunate time” last year, and said that his performances at both West Brom and his previous club Barnsley merit serious USMNT consideration.

“With Barnsley, I think when he went there, they were fighting relegation, and he had a massive part to play in scoring goals and getting them up to then pushing for [the promotion] playoffs,” explained Hudson. “He’s done really well, and then obviously he’s moved to West Brom. He had an injury, but again, he’s doing well.”

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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 — they went 1W-2D-1L in February, and remain in the relegation zone — 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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The Americans Abroad Five: Knock knock knocking on the USMNT’s door

The USMNT has to be feeling pretty good about its depth right now

The U.S. men’s national team has to feel pretty good about its depth right now.

All across Europe, a host of players who didn’t make the World Cup squad are showing they have what it takes to feature for the USMNT, which was again apparent this weekend.

The striker position, which has been a concern for years, has a (very theoretical!) savior possibly en route in the form of Folarin Balogun, but Daryl Dike and Ricardo Pepi keep showing this season they should be in the USMNT mix as well.

That duo, along with some other names who could be coming soon to a U.S. roster near you, features in this week’s Five, along with a coach who could someday be leading them.

The Americans Abroad Five: Leeds is in big trouble

Could the Leeds America era end as quickly as it began?

Saturday was the kind of game that Leeds should have been up for.

Facing relegation rival Everton at Goodison Park, Leeds needed to show some kind of sign it can turn around the ever-worsening tailspin this season is becoming.

Instead, Leeds was lifeless. Everton wasn’t brilliant either, but it didn’t need to be. One gritty performance and one lighting-bolt of a goal from Seamus Coleman sealed a 1-0 win for the Toffees.

Leeds is now 19th after a damaging weekend that also saw fellow strugglers Southampton and Bournemouth win. The club’s decision to sack Jesse Marsch a couple weeks ago wasn’t necessarily wrong, but doing so without having a potential replacement has been disastrous.

After being turned down in embarrassing and repeated fashion, the club is still being led by the caretaker trio of Michael Skubala, Chris Armas and Paco Gallardo. The Everton performance has, apparently, made Leeds hierarchy reconsider the wisdom of letting that trio continue much longer.

Leeds has become appointment viewing for American fans, but that may not last if things continue down this road.

Let’s explore that and a few other pressing topics in this week’s Five.

Pepi says he did his part to make USMNT World Cup roster: ‘I scored my goals’

The 19-year-old felt he couldn’t have done much more to secure a roster spot

Ricardo Pepi was disappointed to miss the U.S. national team World Cup roster, but insisted he’s at ease over his omission because he couldn’t have done much more to make the squad.

On the back of a disappointing first half-season at Augsburg, Pepi sought out a loan move to secure more minutes and scoring opportunities as he looked to lock down a World Cup place.

The 19-year-old got a loan to Dutch side Groningen and has delivered in the Eredivisie, scoring six goals in just nine games so far.

That led many observers to conclude Pepi would have a spot in Qatar secured, especially after Gregg Berhalter called him into September’s friendlies when the striker was not in strong scoring form.

But a trip to Qatar, where he would have been the youngest USMNT roster member, was not to be for Pepi. Speaking after scoring another goal for Groningen on Sunday in a 3-2 loss to Fortuna Sittard, Pepi said that while he is disappointed, he is proud of his recent exploits in the Netherlands.

“[It’s] disappointing because I felt like I gave myself the best opportunity to be on the World Cup roster,” Pepi said in an interview with OOG Radio.

“I felt like I had a chance but [it’s] also not disappointing at the same time because like I said, I did my thing. I went out there, I played many minutes, I scored my goals. So I’m really happy with that situation. At the end of the day, it’s a coach’s decision that I can’t control.”

Pepi said that after Berhalter told him he would not be on the roster, he tried not to dwell on the omission and immediately started to look ahead.

“After he told me that I wasn’t in the selection, I just had to listen to what he said. And I didn’t really ask any questions,” Pepi said. “I felt like once he told me I wanted to flip the page as soon as possible and just focus on the game now. I can’t keep thinking about why I didn’t make it or why I did.”

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USMNT forward Pepi misses World Cup roster despite red-hot form

Pepi’s outstanding form with Groningen wasn’t enough for the USMNT

The U.S. men’s national team will go to the World Cup without one of its most in-form goalscorers.

Ricardo Pepi, who has rediscovered his form in recent months after a loan move to Groningen, was surprisingly left off the USMNT roster for Qatar. Pepi has five goals and two assists in his first eight appearances since making that move, and had been a regular call-up for Gregg Berhalter even while struggling through his first European season at Augsburg.

That burst of success in the Eredivisie, and the restored confidence that came with it, seemed to secure his place on Berhalter’s roster. Instead, the USMNT head coach delivered a shock, dropping Pepi and calling on Jesús Ferreira, Josh Sargent, and Haji Wright as his three strikers.

“In the case of Ricardo, you know, that was a really difficult conversation that I had to have,” Berhalter told ESPN moments after the news dropped. “It’s always difficult when a guy helps you get to the World Cup, he scores three goals in World Cup qualifying, [and] isn’t going to be a part of the program.”

“It’s more about who we did add that we felt good about,” added Berhalter, preferring to highlight what the other strikers did to secure their places over critiquing Pepi’s play. “Josh is competing in the Championship, he played in the Premier League last year. We’re playing Wales and England, both teams are stocked with players from those leagues. Haji Wright is in great form with his team in Turkey, scoring nine goals already so far. And Jesús has been good for us, and a guy who really understands the game plan and how to execute it.”

Wright ‘in great goalscoring form’

Berhalter didn’t quite hone in on what Pepi had been missing to fall down the depth chart so late in the process, but he did give some insight into how Wright managed to climb above him.

The Antalyaspor striker wasn’t even seen as Pepi’s biggest challenger, with most of the signs pointing towards Pefok being the next man up. Wright has been very consistent in the Turkish top flight, but his last appearance with the USMNT saw Berhalter openly declare that he hadn’t capitalized on his opportunity. While Berhalter chalked the situation up to it “not being [Wright’s] night,” the choice to haul him off at halftime was widely read as the end of the California native’s World Cup hopes.

Speaking to reporters after announcing the roster, Berhalter explained some of what gave Wright the advantage in the end.

“We felt like Haji is in great goalscoring form,” said Berhalter, adding that while Wright is possibly less physically strong than Pefok, his speed was a factor in the decision. “Haji has pace. He’s got the ability to go one-v-one. He’s got finishing with his head, both feet. He’s performing really well in the Turkish League.”

Berhalter was so bullish on Wright’s form that he even drew a direct comparison between the USMNT man and Belgium striker Michy Batshuayi.

“Let’s not forget that the starting striker from Belgium also plays in the Turkish League and has five goals, and Haji has nine goals. And the Belgium guy’s probably playing for a better team, also. So I mean, this is not an easy league to score goals in, and he’s doing a good job.”

Batshuayi does in fact suit up for Fenerbahçe, the Istanbul-based giants that are currently five points clear atop the Turkish Super Lig table. Wright — who has nine of his club’s 19 league goals this season — and Antalyaspor are eight places and 13 points further down the table.

It’s not a totally even comparison. Batshuayi has only appeared in seven games since moving to Fenerbahçe a little over two months ago, and between league games and Europa League contests has scored a goal for every 75 minutes played, as compared to Wright’s rate of 117 minutes per goal. But even still, drawing a line between the two players clearly serves to highlight just how strong Wright’s form is in Berhalter’s eyes.

Berhalter added that the nature of this World Cup, with a lack of pre-tournament friendlies and prep time, made him place more weight on individual form than he might have otherwise.

“We don’t have three games before the World Cup now. We have a week of training, and that made it extremely difficult,” said Berhalter. “If we would have made the decision mid-September, Jordan Pefok would have probably been a lock to be in, based on his form in Union Berlin. But since then, it’s a different story. Now Haji’s come on more.”

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