Ricardo Pepi was competing in a soccer match when it began to rain.
The future U.S. men’s national team star, just a teenager at the time, continued playing as the rain fell and the stands emptied. One soaked spectator, however, remained seated. His father.
“No one around him, the rain was falling down hard and he’s watching his son,” Miguel López, Pepi’s former coach, recalled on NBC’s “My New Favorite Futbolista.” “That gave me a lot of respect for him.”
It was a small but symbolic moment shared between Pepi, his father and Mother Nature that encapsulated the family’s dedication to the pursuit of a dream. It showed that no matter where Pepi’s soccer career took him, his family would always be there — near or far, win or lose, rain or shine.
“The most important thing is the sacrifices you have to make to get here,” said Pepi, now a 23-year-old striker for PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands. “Not only mine, but also my family’s — my parents, my brothers.”
Those early sacrifices began while Pepi was growing up in El Paso, Texas — an area along the Mexico border where, even at a young age, soccer isn’t exactly played for fun.
“No matter what club it is, even for 5-, 6- or 7-year-old kids, here you play to win,” López said. “Ricardo was one of those neighborhood kids who had a ball with him every day, at any hour.”
And his family was always nearby, making the long drives for training sessions and games. They were the anchors of his support system, his mother providing the comforts of home and his father roaming the sidelines.
“My dad was very important for my career,” Pepi said. “He was my coach for 10 or 11 years. That takes time. That takes sacrifice.”
Like many kids, Pepi eventually left home while pursuing a career. Unlike many kids, Pepi was only 13 years old when he did so.
FC Dallas offered him the chance to continue developing in their system. That initially meant moving more than 600 miles and nine hours away from his family, until they were able to join him.
“If you have kids, you know what it means to let a son go alone, at 13 years old, to another big city to fulfill his dream,” López said. “Yes, it is very difficult.”
It was just as difficult for Pepi, who was thrust into new surroundings without the nearby support of his family.
“I had plenty of time to think about the sacrifices I had made in leaving my family,” Pepi said. “But I think it was the moment when I realized all the things my family has done for me to be where I am now.”
The family eventually joined Pepi in Dallas, and it was during that time that his father watched him play in the rain. Seeing his family’s sacrifices further motivated Pepi to make his dream become a reality.
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When he was 18 years old, he had a breakout year in Major League Soccer with 13 goals in 31 games, en route to being named MLS Young Player of the Year.
Pepi had an opportunity to represent his home country when he made his USMNT debut in 2021, scoring in his first international appearance to become the team’s eighth-youngest goalscorer.
He then made the leap to Europe in record-breaking fashion. FC Dallas transferred him to FC Augsburg in Germany in January 2022 for what was the highest transfer fee for a homegrown player in MLS history.
Success brought more change and challenges.
“The first six months were very difficult obviously,” Pepi said. “I was in a different culture, a different country, speaking a different language.”
And learning how to do his own laundry.
“Life is very easy when your mother is at home,” he said.
The lessons he learned on and off the pitch proved to be invaluable.
“Going to Europe young was one of the best things that could have happened to him,” López said. “So he could absorb the training and the soccer culture over there, which is very different from what it is here.”
It prepared him for what he thought would be his first appearance in the World Cup in 2022. But when U.S. Soccer announced its 26-player World Cup roster, Pepi was not on it. That disappointment was shared not only between Pepi and his family, but throughout the El Paso community.
“It’s a dream for me, it’s also a dream for them,” he said. “It was difficult for everyone.”
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Pepi said not being named to the World Cup helped him mature and grow as a player, making him strive for the next opportunity.
“My parents told me that everything happens for a reason, that I should keep working,” he said. “‘Maybe it’s not the World Cup you were supposed to play in.’”
His journey to the World Cup — with stops along the way in El Paso, Dallas, Germany and the Netherlands — would be completed four years later.
Pepi has recorded 13 goals in 37 caps for the national team, making him one of the most prolific U.S. strikers of his generation. That helped ensure that his name would be called when the 2026 World Cup roster was announced in May.
He’ll make his World Cup debut on June 12 when the U.S. takes on Paraguay in Los Angeles — his presence on the sport’s grandest stage a tribute to all those who made sacrifices to help get him there.
“We have all contributed, his first coach, his parents, his school teachers, the equipment managers, everyone,” López said. “And I think they are very proud of what he has done and what he will continue to do in the future.”
They’ll be there to watch, even if it’s raining.
You can tune into “My New Favorite Futbolista” wherever you listen to podcasts, with episodes featuring Pepi and more World Cup stars.
