United States men’s national team striker Ricardo Pepi is expected to miss roughly two months after suffering a broken forearm while playing for PSV Eindhoven on Saturday, the Dutch club confirmed.
Pepi, 23, was injured after landing awkwardly after scoring PSV’s second goal during their Eredivisie match against Excelsior. Medical examinations carried out later that night at a hospital revealed a fracture, and the club said Pepi will undergo surgery on Sunday. PSV did not indicate any complications but ruled the striker out for the immediate future.
“It didn’t look good right away and at such a moment you would prefer to look the other way,” PSV head coach Peter Bosz said in a statement. “Last January Ricardo was already out due to his knee injury. It won’t last that long now, but unfortunately we lost him again.”
Pepi was forced off shortly after the incident and did not return to the match, which PSV went on to win by a 5-1 scoreline. The setback halts a period of strong form for the American forward, who had re-established himself after recovering from his previous knee issue.
“Pepi was on a good run, had a strong training camp and was all the way back,” Bosz said. “He became more confident in rounding and was in that good flow again. All signs were green for a strong second half of the season, so this is incredibly disappointing. First and foremost for him and obviously for us as well.”
The injury also raises questions for the United States as they build toward this summer’s World Cup. Pepi has been a regular presence in the national team setup, scoring 13 goals in 34 appearances, and featured in the most recent international window in November.
With the US set to open its World Cup campaign on June 12 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Pepi now faces a race against time to return to full fitness, while his availability for upcoming friendlies against Belgium on 28 March and Portugal three days later remains uncertain.
