{"id":563244,"date":"2026-03-27T00:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T00:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/563244\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T00:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T00:58:12","slug":"young-striker-bim-pepple-scoring-goals-turning-heads-at-canada-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/563244\/","title":{"rendered":"Young striker Bim Pepple scoring goals, turning heads at Canada camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Bim Pepple, seen here playing for Plymouth Argyle in September, 2025, learned the professional ropes through a series of team loans before finding success with Plymouth.IMAGO\/George Wass\/PPAUK\/Reuters<\/p>\n

While Bim Pepple\u2019s football journey has already had more than a few stops, the young forward is clearly headed in the right direction.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old Pepple\u2019s resume included the Canadian Premier League\u2019s Cavalry FC, Spain\u2019s Getafe, Scotland\u2019s Inverness Caledonia Thistle and England\u2019s Luton Town, Grimsby Town, Bromley, Southend United and Chesterfield before he joined third-tier Plymouth Argyle last July.<\/p>\n

He has learned along the way, with his goal count growing en route. His 15 goals in all competitions this season for Plymouth caught Canada coach Jesse Marsch\u2019s eye, with Pepple called into camp for the first time for Toronto friendlies Saturday against Iceland and Tuesday against Tunisia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s done really well. He\u2019s impressed us,\u201d Marsch said. \u201cHe\u2019s still learning all of the things that are important behaviours for what we think. But he\u2019s made a big impression on everybody. He\u2019s scored some great goals already in training.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think he\u2019s had a really good start. And he\u2019s smart. He\u2019s a smart guy, so when you talk to him about stuff, he gets it. We\u2019re pretty happy with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canadian ‘keeper Dayne St. Clair banks on the Messi effect helping him at World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

Fullback Alistair Johnston has also taken notice.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a handful, for sure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Born in England to a Nigerian father and English mother, Pepple was five when the family moved to Calgary. Both his parents are doctors, who fell in love with Canada thanks to a visit to Banff while on vacation.<\/p>\n

Pepple, whose full name is Aribusitamunoipirim Emmanuel Pepple, started playing in the Calgary Foothills youth system as a midfielder, shifting to winger and then striker with Cavalry.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Canadian defender Alistair Johnston has said that Pepple ‘is a handful’ in practice sessions.Eduardo Lima\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\u201cIt proved to be a good decision,\u201d Pepple said with a smile.<\/p>\n

He made his Cavalry debut at 16 before heading to Spain for a year with Getafe\u2019s under-19 side after tryouts with England\u2019s Sheffield United and Leicester City. After returning to Cavalry, he scored seven goals in six games which drew more interest from overseas.<\/p>\n

Cavalry coach and GM Tommy Wheeldon Jr. has enjoyed watching Pepple\u2019s progress to the national team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pleased for him because he\u2019s humble, he\u2019s hungry,\u201d said Wheeldon. \u201cBut he\u2019s just a pure goal-scorer . . . Lots of clubs were knocking at his door.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luton got his signature, sending him out on a string of loans to get seasoning. <\/p>\n

BMO Field grows into FIFA World Cup venue<\/a><\/p>\n

The first few loans (to Grimsby and Bromley) were tough, getting used to lower-level English football and living alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time I went to Scotland \u2013 that was my third loan \u2013 I was like, \u2018OK. Now I understand was the game is like here,\u2019\u201d said Pepple. \u201cBut I needed all those different loans to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Inverness Caledonia Thistle, he worked under former Scotland striker Duncan Ferguson. <\/p>\n

\u201cI learned a lot from him. Just using my body and stuff like that. And getting to grips with the physicality,\u201d said Pepple, a solid unit himself at 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds. <\/p>\n

He started getting regular games last season at fifth-tier Southend and fourth-tier Chesterfield, where he learned under former Wolves, Burnley and Wigan midfielder Paul Cook.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s head coach Jesse Marsch, centre, is big on Pepple, calling him a smart player who has picked things up quickly in his short time with the national team program.Eduardo Lima\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom there I had a rhythm, which I hadn\u2019t really got anywhere else before,\u201d said Pepple. \u201cI started scoring goals and I found confidence that I can score goals in England.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose two teams really set me up to kick on this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luton, meanwhile, was going through hard times, finding itself in League One after back-to-back relegations.<\/p>\n

Pepple met with Luton last summer, with a year remaining on his contract. While the club wanted him to stay, he reckoned he wasn\u2019t going to play as much as he wanted to.<\/p>\n

Along came Plymouth Argyle, which was relegated from the second-tier Championship to League One after the 2024-25 season. Pepple saw more opportunity there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I would have a chance, if not to the No. 1 [striker] choice, the second choice and play more regularly.\u201d<\/p>\n

He asked for his release, which Luton granted.<\/p>\n

Plymouth Argyle currently stands seventh in League One at 18-16-5. The club is well-supported with crowds of 16,000-plus showing up at Home Park.<\/p>\n

Pepple feels the love everywhere in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnywhere I go really, I get recognized. Which is good. It\u2019s nice. It makes you feel appreciated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He concedes there were some moments of doubt on his soccer travels.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were times when naturally you have little thoughts, maybe late at night, \u2018Is this going to work out?\u2019 But I\u2019ve always said my parents were so good for me. They literally did not make it an option to give up. And it was because they believed in me and I\u2019m happy I\u2019m able to repay them with stuff like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting the [Canada] call up is huge, not just for me but for my whole family. Yeah, it\u2019s been a tough journey. And I\u2019m sure there\u2019s still going to be more ups and downs in the future. But I get better now at handling them and riding the waves.\u201d<\/p>\n

That resilience was evident early on, says Wheeldon.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got his lovely air of resilience that\u2019s been brought into him by his upbringing, from his parents, the coaches he\u2019s had around him. He firmly believes in himself, no matter what\u2019s happening to him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Bim Pepple, seen here playing for Plymouth Argyle in September, 2025, learned the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-563244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}