Ricardo Pepi answered the call for PSV in his first league start of the 2024-25 Eredivisie season.
Pepi scored twice on Saturday in PSV’s 2-0 road victory over Willem II, giving the American forward his first brace at club level since October 2022. The U.S. men’s national team forward earned SBI Americans Abroad Player of the Week honors in the process.
Pepi’s 49th minute headed finish propelled PSV into a 1-0 lead before the former FC Dallas homegrown slotted in his second goal of the half only 17 minutes later. PSV would hang on to remain unbeaten in league play as Pepi walked away with his best performance of the season to date.
Pepi mainly served as a substitute last season for PSV, but now has gained a major momentum boost following his performance on Saturday. With UEFA Champions League play coming midweek, the 21-year-old will be eager to remain in the starting lineup.
New USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino will surely be watching if Pepi can continue his trek upward in the striker pecking order.
Here is a look at some of the other top Americans Abroad performers from this past week:
Folarin Balogun
Make it back-to-back goalscoring performance for Folarin Balogun.
Balogun started, scored once, and played 90 minutes as Monaco defeated Montpellier 2-1 in Ligue 1 play Saturday. The USMNT forward tied the match for Adolf Hutter’s squad before the hosts used a 98th minute winner to seal all three points.
Balogun’s form is moving up after scoring in consecutive matches.
Christian Pulisic
The good times continue to roll for Christian Pulisic.
Pulisic made it four-straight matches with a goal as AC Milan defeated Lecce 3-0 on Friday. The USMNT winger capped off a dominant first half for the Rossoneri, who made it back-to-back victories in league play.
Dating back to September USMNT duty, Pulisic has now scored in five-straight matches which is a personal best.
Paxten Aaronson
Paxten Aaronson was the hero for FC Utrecht on Sunday in a league win over AZ Alkmaar.
Aaronson came off the bench and scored the winning goal in a 2-1 triumph. It marked the Eintracht Frankfurt loanee’s first goal for the club since arriving on loan last summer.
The 21-year-old has continued to rack up the playing time in the Netherlands yet again this season.
Josh Sargent
Norwich City earned three points at Pride Park on Saturday with Josh Sargent assisting twice in the result.
Sargent set up Borja Sainz twice in a 3-2 victory over Derby County, delivering one of his better performance so far. The USMNT forward was a thorn in the Rams backline’s sides all day, showing he is more than just a goalscorer in the final third.
What did you think of these individual performances this past weekend? Was there anyone left off the list that you would’ve added?
Share your thoughts below.
Nice to see Pepi and Balogun join Pulisic as those up front who are scoring. Balogun was in a drought and Pepi hardly playing, so it’s hard to tell in cases like that if they are really any good. Let’s hope they can continue their production during the Nation’s League.
Peter Bosz said last year he had discussed resting DeJong and starting Pepi, but Luuk would talk him out of it. He says that won’t happen this year. We’ll see if he sticks too that, a lot of two match weeks up ahead for PSV. Of course there are also international windows Pepi will fly back and forth from and play in that DeJong can rest during.
“Peter Bosz said last year he had discussed resting DeJong and starting Pepi, but Luuk would talk him out of it. He says that won’t happen this year.”
Right. Sure. I doubt LDJ had to twist Bosz’s arm that much.
Last season LDJ played in 48 games across all competitions and had 38 goals. He had 29 league goals in 34 league games.
And in 8 games this season LDJ has 5 goals. In the 6 league games he has been in he has 3 goals.
It is the goal happy Eredivisie but those kind of numbers are hard to argue with no matter the league. It’s a good problem for Bosz to have. Ignore the present and you may not have a future.
By the way did you know that LDJ’s first goal for Barcelona came off an assist from a back named Sergino Dest?
I think what Bosz is thinking is you probably don’t need LDJ to start against Almere City when you have Chelsea two days later. Or in this case Wilhem II when Sporting is in two days. And/or Luuk can probably come out up 3 goals at half instead of playing 82 minutes. He is 34 he’s not going to put up those numbers forever.
JR
A lot depends on LDJ’s style. He’s said to be the best header of the ball in Holland so my guess is set pieces are a big deal for him. You can do that a long time. He’s either going to keep doing this for a bit or fall off of a cliff soon.
If I’m Earnie, depending on where PSV are at I think about selling LDJ during the January window. This is assuming RIcardo continues to progress.
V: I think at 34 DeJong is probably at his last stop. No one is going to pay much for a 34 yr old. If some big club loses a their striker to injury before January I could see it but even that might be a stretch because big clubs tend to have 2 or 3 strikers in the wings. MLS or Saudi the only realistic suitors I’d suppose. An MLS deal would be for July not January.
JR
A bit dated but interesting comments coaches and team mates on Ricardo and other topics of interest:
ttps://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5805962/2024/09/30/usmnt-pepi-celtic-trusty-sargent-pulisic-tracker/