United States Men's national Soccer Team News

Bayer Leverkusen vs. Augsburg: Ricardo Pepi has yet to win with his new club

By Wilian Estrella

Bayer thrashed the USMNT international's team. 

Bayer thrashed the USMNT international's team. 

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Ricardo Pepi has yet to win with his new club, as in the Bayer Leverkusen vs. Augsburg duel the USMNT international's team was destroyed by the opposing squad. 

The El Paso, Texas native could do little to prevent the painful 5-1 drubbing that Bayer Leverkusen inflicted on his team, which is now also in the relegation zone, so the American's adventure is in danger of taking an uncertain turn. 

This is Pepi's second match in which his team, Augsburg, has been defeated, as the previous one was his debut with his new club against Hoffenheim. 

On that occasion, Pepi was also unable to make a difference in the match and had to watch Augsburg fall to a 3-1 defeat, which may cause concern to the player's supporters as everything points to the fact that the USMNT international could be relegated along with his team if things continue in this way. 

Ricardo Pepi has yet to win with his new club

When the player arrived at the Bundesliga team, he undoubtedly expected to be a factor in making Augsburg a leading team in the German top flight

But after three games, the outlook is not encouraging, as in his debut, the player experienced his first defeat in a club outside the United States. 

In that match on Saturday, January 8 of this year, Pepi made his debut in the 60th minute of the match against Hoffenheim to try to tie the score, which was 2-1 in favor of the home team, so Augsburg needed goals

And Pepi tried and at least one of those attempts generated real danger for the opposing team. In that game, Pepi got his first touch on the ball, striking a low cross with the outside of his boot, but the ball went wide of the goal.

Unfortunately for him, he had no more chances to try to reduce the deficit and the match ended 3-1 in favor of Hoffenheim

Then, in their next match on Sunday, January 16 against Eintracht Frankfurt, Augsburg could not win either, although on that occasion they left with a 1-1 draw, which gave them some oxygen but did not help their current situation. 

Pepi started the match but only played 84 minutes of the game, and his clearest scoring chance came in the first half when the American sent the ball into the back of the Eintracht goal.

Everything seemed to be going well and this would have been the American's first goal with his new club, but bad luck played its part, and thanks to a foul by Hasebe, what would have been the former FC Dallas' first goal in the Bundesliga was canceled out.

And the player's most recent misadventure occurred today when Bayer Leverkusen annihilated Augsburg 5-1. 

The goals in the match were scored by Karim Bellarabi in the 9th minute, a hat-trick by Moussa Diaby in the 24th, 65th, and 69th minutes, and one more by Lucas Alario in the 81st minute.

For Pepi's team, Arne Maier scored in the 62nd minute, but to little avail as Augsburg was unable to come back from the deficit. 

Pepi's future with the USMNT is bright, but not yet with Augsburg

The 19-year-old has been called up to the USMNT for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers and his future with the Stars and Stripes looks bright

Accompanied by players of the stature of Christian Pulisic, it seems that his decision to play for the United States and not Mexico is paying off as he is one of the stars of his team.

However, even though he has only played 3 Bundesliga games with his team, the fact that he has not won a single game so far casts doubt on his decision to join this German club

Was it a mistake for Pepi to leave MLS? Only time will tell. 


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