Mexico National Soccer Team News

Ricardo Pepi revealed why he decided to play for USMNT instead of Mexico National Team

By Jose Castro

He’s played 9 games for the Stars and Stripes.

He’s played 9 games for the Stars and Stripes.

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Although he is going through a rough patch in his career since he joined AFC Augsburg at the start of the past winter transfer window, it’s no lie to say that Ricardo Pepi is one of the most talented young players nowadays.

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So far, Pepi has played six games with Augsburg in Bundesliga for a total of 266 minutes played, and even if he’s been a starter in three of them, he hasn’t been able to play a full match and neither has been able to score.

But that doesn’t erase the fact that he has the potential to be one of the best strikers in the next couple of decades, and that’s why both USMNT and Mexico National Team were pursuing his addition to their squad since he was playing in the U-16 categories

He first started playing for El Tri but then decided to represent the Stars and Stripes. Since then, Pepi was a regular in the US Soccer Youth National Teams and on September of last year, Gregg Berhalter finally called him to be part of the senior squad after having a breakout season in MLS with FC Dallas.

 

Why didn’t he play for El Tri?

Pepi grew up watching the games of Mexico National Team on TV and dreaming of playing for El Tri as he has both Mexican and American citizenships, given that he was born in El Paso, Texas, on a Mexican household.

But he realized since he was part of El Tri U-16 squad that there where a lot of obstacles on his path if he ever wanted to debut with the senior team, obstacles that USMNT didn’t have, as they have been known for giving young players much more opportunities than the Aztec squad.

Alongside with the few opportunities, the fact that some of El Tri sponsors, like Televisa, imposed players given that they resulted to be more profitable, like Diego Lainez, who is a talented young player but hasn’t had the regularity needed to play for El Tri, closed the few open doors that were left for Pepi, which made him decide to play for USMNT.

 

Ricardo Pepi’s numbers with USMNT

So far, Pepi has played nine games for the Stars and Stripes, where he’s been able to score on three occasions, showing that he has the potential to become one of the best strikers in the future, something that El Tri currently is lacking.

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