Ricardo Pepi has been waiting. Waiting, patiently but restlessly, for a chance. He was once a teen phenom teeming with potential, and leading the line for the U.S. men’s national team. Now, at age 21, after stumbling in Europe, he has not started consecutive games for club or country in nearly 18 months. And his patience is waning.
“I’m feeling ready to be the man, to be the starter,” Pepi said Tuesday.
And two days later, he played like it.
Pepi spurred the USMNT to a 1-0 win over Jamaica in the first leg of a CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal Thursday in Kingston.
In the fifth minute, he deftly swiveled his hips, spun in behind the Jamaican defense, and finished off Christian Pulisic’s through-ball.
It was Pepi’s eighth goal of the young season, and sixth in his last four starts.
And those, he knows, are numbers he can wield to ward off a dangerous label:“Supersub.”
Ever since moving to PSV Eindhoven in 2023, Pepi has developed that reputation. He’s been stuck on the bench behind experienced strikers at the Dutch club, “waiting to play 10, 15 minutes every weekend,” as he said. And without weekly opportunities to prove his worth, he’s been stuck in a similar situation, behind Folarin Balogun, with the USMNT.
In those 10, 15 or 45 minutes, he’d often score. But he still wouldn’t start. “It got a little frustrating,” Pepi said this week. And he began to hear “that word,” subersub, whose connotations were mixed.
“Obviously people are noticing the things that I’m doing whenever I come in as a sub, and it makes them say the word,” Pepi told ESPN. “But at the same time, hearing that word, it makes me want to, I don’t know, punch something.”
On a videoconference call with reporters, he explained why: “I’m at a point in my career right now where I’m ready. I’m ready to either start, to get more playing time. I feel like I’ve been showing that.”
Slowly but surely, now, the playing time has been coming. Pepi has earned three starts for PSV over the past month and a half, more than he got all of last season. He poured in five goals in those three games.
And with Balogun, Josh Sargent and Haji Wright all injured, Pepi parlayed those performances into a start for the national team.
“It’s a great opportunity for him,” U.S. head coach Mauricio Pochettino said Sunday.
On Thursday, Pepi wasted no time taking it.
His run, after a slight-but-effective feint, checking to the ball then sprinting in behind, was that of a confident striker. His shot was a bit scuffed, but it bounded past Jamaican goalkeeper Andre Blake, and in off the far post.
From that point onward, the U.S. was occasionally shaky. A sloppy giveaway and defensive breakdown led to a Jamaica penalty — but Matt Turner leapt to his right, stretched, and saved the spot-kick.
The U.S. squandered a few opportunities to double its lead. In the second half, at times, it sat back and soaked up pressure. Mark McKenzie, who’d faltered in the buildup to the penalty, made multiple decisive interventions. Balls squirmed just wide of the U.S. goal. Jamaican fans brought hands to their heads, in disbelief that they weren’t celebrating an equalizer.
For the USMNT, the 1-0 win was by no means emphatic or impressive. But it was more than sufficient. The two teams will now head to St. Louis for the second leg on Monday. All the Americans will need is a draw to qualify for the Nations League semifinals in March.
And that was the primary goal. For Pochettino, the 2026 World Cup is still the big picture and the end game. But in this camp, his second, the message was clear.
“Obviously it’s easy to look ahead,” Pulisic said Wednesday. “The main objective right now is to beat Jamaica. That’s truly the only thing on our minds.” And after Thursday night, they are more than halfway there.
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