PSV’ers gear up for the World Cup: “We’re going for World Cup glory”

After a difficult season with the necessary injuries, but with a few important goals as well, Ricardo Pepi, just like Sergino Dest, is preparing with Team USA for the 2026 World Cup. For both PSV players, it will be a special World Cup since it is organized for a large part in their own country.

Together with neighboring countries Canada and Mexico, the United States has the great honor of hosting the biggest global football tournament. Pepi grew up in the United States as a child of Mexican immigrants who are completely obsessed with football, and so the current PSV striker knew that later he wanted to work as a professional footballer.

''The main reason is that my father played football. He was a strong forward with a hard shot, if I can believe his stories. He also switched to defense now and then. There are no recordings of it, because he played for a local team and didn’t get very far with them. He had three children when he was still quite young and had to scale things back. So I’m just sticking to the stories from my family that he was a decent player. My family is Mexican and breathes football. I more or less grew up with a ball at my feet. I didn’t even think about other sports. I knew this was what I was going to do with my whole life'', the striker says in conversation with PSV watcher Tim Reedijk of Voetbal International.

Soccer is by no means as popular in the United States as American football, ice hockey, baseball and basketball, but despite that the sport is growing more and more in the country, and Pepi notices that as well. ''When I was there toward the end of last year, I was recognized by a number of people. Most often it’s the NFL and NBA players who get approached, but footballers are also being asked more and more frequently. The sport is growing fast. The World Cup is going to bring about an even bigger leap. I truly think that soccer could one day become the biggest sport in the country. That potential is there. It’s a global sport'', says Pepi about it.

The PSV striker can’t wait for the World Cup to begin. ''I think it’s going to be great and I’m really looking forward to it, a World Cup at home and playing for our home crowd. We have a good group, where opportunities lie. We play twice in Los Angeles, in a very beautiful stadium. We have to show our best and go as far as possible. I also think we have a good team. We have the mentality that we want to go for it, until the end'', the attacker said.

Team USA will be active in Group Stage Group D against Paraguay, Australia and Turkey. ''I wouldn’t say there’s pressure, but we know and feel that it’s a World Cup on home soil and that we have to take care of it. They will support us, but they also expect a lot,'' as Pepi explains.

The best performance by the Americans dates back to the 1930 World Cup, when they secured third place. At the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, the squad coached by then-national team manager Bruce Arena, with current PSV technical director Earnest Stewart and former PSV player DaMarcus Beasley in the squad, unexpectedly reached the quarterfinals, where they were lost 1-0 to the eventual finalists Germany and, during that match, Scottish referee Hugh Dallas saw an obvious penalty for the Americans due to a handball on the goal line by Torsten Frings go unnoticed.

Pepi would like to perform even better than the 2002 World Cup selection. ''Everyone has their own expectations, but the most important are ours. We’re going for World Cup victory and I think it’s possible. Really, we play at home. That’s the goal,'' concludes the PSV striker.