There was a bizarre Ricardo Pepi quote making the rounds in Germany this week. Thankfully, the fine folks at FC Augsburg were kind enough to dispel it as fake. But we still have so, so many questions.
The U.S. men’s national team has a striker problem. Players like Ricardo Pepi, Jordan Pefok, Gyasi Zardes and Daryl Dike have all attempted to fill the No. 9 vacancy on the team with mixed results. The team has been searching for an answer, but little did they know the solution has been one step away from the field this whole time.
Gregg Berhalter needs a go at striker. Don’t believe me? Check out this video from the USMNT’s Arizona training camp and try telling me that Mr. Nike Shirt couldn’t score a goal for this team.
Freddy Adu needs no introduction. After Sierra Mist told everyone he'd fix the ozone layer as a 14-year-old boy wonder, he instead went on to play professional soccer for 15 years while representing his country 17 times. A lot of people still aren’t happy about that and want him to get up there and fix that damn part of the stratosphere, but we say leave him alone.
The comparisons between Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are a never-ending story. And everything they do could be considered a valid category for a head-to-head between them. For example, CR7 has more goals and kids than Messi, while Messi has more Ballon d'Ors and a more expensive car collection than Cristiano.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Kylian Mbappé's global takeover continues this week following news of a multi-year partnership with eyewear brand Oakley.
The story of Matchday 1 across AFCON was probably Sierra Leone's unlikely 0-0 draw with tournament favorite Algeria last Tuesday.
Watching Ricardo Pepi make his first Augsburg start on Sunday against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga, I realized that either Pepi's performance was exactly the same as the debuts of Clint Dempsey with Fulham, Christian Pulisic with Borussia Dortmund and Tyler Adams with Leipzig or that I have a tendency to see exactly what I want to see when hugely talented Americans finally grace the field in Europe.
The Africa Cup of Nations has been the gift that keeps giving in terms of content.