Ricardo Pepi has been waiting. Waiting, patiently but restlessly, for an opportunity. He was once a teenage phenom full of potential and led the line for the United States men’s national team. Now, at 21, after stumbling in Europe, he hasn’t started consecutive games for club or country in almost 18 months. And his patience is waning.
“I feel prepared to be the man, the starter,” Pepi said Tuesday.
And two days later, he played like this.
Pepi propelled the USMNT to a 1-0 victory over Jamaica in the first leg of their CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinals on Thursday in Kingston.
In the fifth minute, he deftly turned his hips, spun behind the Jamaican defense and finished off a pass from Christian Pulisic.
It was Pepi’s eighth goal of the young season and sixth in his last four starts.
And he knows that those are numbers he can use to protect himself from a dangerous label:“Supersub.”
Since moving to PSV Eindhoven in 2023, Pepi has developed that reputation. He’s been stuck on the bench behind the Dutch club’s experienced forwards, “expecting to play 10 or 15 minutes every weekend,” as he put it. And without weekly opportunities to prove himself, he has found himself stuck in a similar situation, behind Folarin Balogun, with the USMNT.
In those 10, 15 or 45 minutes he scored many times. But he still didn’t want to start. “It got a little frustrating,” Pepi said this week. And he began to hear “that word”, subsubwhose connotations were mixed.
“Obviously people notice the things I do every time I come on as a substitute, and that makes them say the word.” Pepi told ESPN. “But at the same time, hearing that word makes me want to, I don’t know, hit something.”
In a video conference with reporters, he explained why: “I’m at a point in my career where I’m ready. I’m ready to start at any time, to get more playing time. I feel like I’ve been showing that.”
Little by little, now the time has come to play. Pepi has made three starts for PSV in the last month and a half, more than he got in all of last season. He scored five goals in those three games.
And with Balogun, Josh Sargent and Haji Wright all injured, Pepi took advantage of those performances to become a starter for the national team.
“It’s a great opportunity for him,” American coach Mauricio Pochettino said Sunday.
On Thursday, Pepi wasted no time in taking it.
His run, after a slight but effective feint, controlling the ball and then running in behind, was that of a confident forward. His shot went a little wide, but it went over Jamaican goalkeeper Andre Blake and went to the far post.
From that point on, the United States was occasionally unstable. A mistake and a defensive lapse led to a penalty for Jamaica, but Matt Turner jumped to his right, stretched and saved the penalty.
The United States missed some opportunities to double its lead. In the second half, at times, he sat back and absorbed the pressure. Mark McKenzie, who had failed to prepare for the penalty, made multiple decisive interventions. The balls barely deviated from the American goal. Jamaican fans put their hands on their heads, incredulous that they weren’t celebrating the tie.
For the USMNT, the 1-0 victory was not at all convincing or impressive. But it was more than enough. 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 main objective. For Pochettino, the 2026 World Cup remains the big picture and the end game. But in this camp, the second, the message was clear.
“Obviously it’s easy to look to the future,” Pulisic said Wednesday. “The main goal now is to beat Jamaica. That’s really the only thing on our mind.” And after Thursday night, they’re already more than halfway there.