18-Year Old El Paso Soccer Phenom is Now An MLS All-Star
Ricardo Pepi is a budding superstar. The 18-year old soccer phenom can now add All Star to his impressive resume. The FC Dallas forward, who was born in El Paso, was named to his first ever MLS All-Star Game earlier this afternoon.
Pepi moved from El Paso to Dallas when he was 13 years old. At that time, he was attending Garcia-Enriquez Middle School in San Elizario. He had been with the FC Dallas Academy, playing for their satellite academy in El Paso. Even at that young age, Pepi was considered a terrific pro prospect, so the decision to continue his soccer training in Dallas was an easy one. It paid off in April of 2019 when he played in his first professional game at the age of 16 for North Texas SC of USL 1. A little more than two months later, he was signed by FC Dallas.
Since then, he has become a fixture on the front line for FC Dallas. In 15 appearances this season, Pepi has started 10 matches and he leads the club with eight goals on 27 shots. To put his performance in proper context, Jader Obrien is second with three goals scored this season. LAFC and All Star head coach Bob Bradley selected Pepi as a coach's pick for his MLS team, which will battle the best of Liga MX on August 25th at 7 p.m. at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. The history making match will be televised on FS1, Univision, TSN, and TVA Sports.