'Full of confidence' - USMNT star Ricardo Pepi is at his best with two-goal September window says coach Gregg Berhalter

U.S. men's national team boss Gregg Berhalter raved about Ricardo Pepi's September window after finishes against Uzbekistan and Oman.

WHAT HAPPENED? Pepi scored against both Uzbekistan and Oman for the USMNT and Berhalter over the past week, making it six goals in six USMNT appearances for the 20-year-old in 2023.

The forward came on at halftime for the USMNT in both matches, finding the back of the net in the second-half in both matches. Folarin Balogun, the USMNT's starter, also scored in the win over Oman as the USMNT striker race continued to heat up.

WHAT THEY SAID: Berhalter raved about the PSV forward's performance, and his ability to consistently score goals at this level.

«You always want your forward scoring goals,» Berhalter said. «Our job as teammates and as coaches is to put them in positions to score goals. That's the important thing and then leave it up to them and give them the quality to finish it off, but it's important that they both scored.

»As far as we see the competition, it's twofold, right? It's what they do for their clubs each and every week and what they do for us when they're in camp. Some of those are easy to measure because they're playing 90 minutes every week, and sometimes they're not and it becomes complicated. But to me, it's more about how they work together, how they train, what their attitude is in camp and what they bring to the team when they're on the field."

The USMNT boss added that he's been impressed with Pepi's confidence.

«I thought from a pressing standpoint, Ricardo did a great job,» he said. «It's really good to see him playing full of confidence. That move had on the past to Weston would have been a fantastic goal. All you really want is your players to be confident and