Pepi out after eight minutes
Ricardo Pepi lasted eight minutes on Sunday. PSV Eindhoven went on to lose 3-2 at FC Twente, and the United States lost a striker from a 28-man squad that had only just been named.
Pepi, 23, was part of Mauricio Pochettino’s group for four friendlies against Peru, Chile, Mexico and Canada. The federation moved fast. Damion Downs takes his place and reports to the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center in Georgia.
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Downs brings six caps and one famous penalty
Downs is 22 and plays for St. Louis City, on loan from Southampton. He has six appearances for the national team. The first came against Switzerland in June 2025. The one supporters remember came later that summer, when he buried the decisive penalty in the shootout win over Costa Rica in the Gold Cup quarterfinals.
His club record carries weight too. Downs scored 10 goals and added five assists for FC Koln in 2024-25, a season that ended with promotion to the Bundesliga.
Pochettino now has another body in a forward group that skews young. Julian Hall, Justin Ellis and Cole Campbell are all in it. So is Cavan Sullivan, who is 16.
A home game inside a home game
The call-up comes with a quirk of scheduling. The United States host Chile at Energizer Park on Sept. 29. That is where Downs plays his club football.
The run opens Saturday against Peru in Orlando. Chile follow in St. Louis, then Mexico on Oct. 3 in Glendale, Arizona, and Canada on Oct. 6 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Four matches inside eleven days give Pochettino room to rotate, and reason to look hard at the forwards he still has rather than the one he lost.
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