Ricardo Pepi Injured With PSV, Casting Doubt on US Call-Up

Eight minutes. That was all Ricardo Pepi could manage on the field before asking to be substituted and sinking to the turf. It happened during PSV Eindhoven's Eredivisie match against FC Twente, and the sight of the forward waving toward the bench set off alarm bells just as the US national team gears up for a FIFA window packed with games.

The timing could hardly have been worse. Pepi had been named by head coach Mauricio Pochettino to a 28-player roster for this upcoming international window, with players due to report that very Sunday. Instead, the forward was forced off in an emergency substitution during a league match in the Netherlands.

The schedule facing the US squad is no small task: they'll face Peru on September 26 in Orlando, Florida, Chile on September 29 in St. Louis, Mexico on October 3 in Glendale, Arizona, and close out against Canada on October 6 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Four matches in just over ten days, and now there's uncertainty over whether Pepi will be available for any of them.

A forward line running short on options

Pepi's setback couldn't come at a worse time for Pochettino, since the list of absences at forward was already a headache. Christian Pulisic, who has only just gotten back to full fitness with AC Milan, wasn't called up. Neither was Folarin Balogun, who had just played his first match of the season with Monaco on Friday.

To make up for those absences, Pochettino opted to lean on young talent and some less familiar names. That includes Cavan Sullivan, the 16-year-old who has been turning heads in MLS with the Philadelphia Union and has become one of the most talked-about stories in American soccer in recent months. Alongside him, the coaching staff tapped other forwards, including Cole Campbell, Justin Ellis and Julian Hall, to round out the attacking line.

Will those options be enough if Pepi ultimately can't make it in time? That's the question circulating within the national team right now. For the moment, everything hinges on how the PSV forward's injury develops and whether the Dutch club's medical staff gives the green light for him to join the US camp in the coming days.