{"id":337155,"date":"2026-06-15T16:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T16:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/337155\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T16:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T16:09:09","slug":"team-usa-star-ricardo-pepi-grew-up-in-a-trailer-in-el-paso-and-his-parents-pawned-their-car-title-to-fuel-his-soccer-dream-now-hes-in-the-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/337155\/","title":{"rendered":"Team USA star Ricardo Pepi grew up in a trailer in El Paso\u2014and his parents pawned their car title to fuel his soccer dream. Now he\u2019s in the World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Ricardo Pepi suited up for Team USA\u2019s World Cup<\/a> opener against Paraguay on Friday, it marked more than just another milestone for one of America\u2019s brightest soccer stars. For his parents, Daniel and Annette Pepi, it was the culmination of years of sacrifice\u2014and proof that the struggle may have been worth it.<\/p>\n

Born in El Paso, Texas, to Mexican parents, Pepi grew up in modest circumstances. Daniel was just 23 when he became a father. Annette was 16. The family lived in a trailer, scraping by while trying to give their son a shot at an unlikely dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kind of started our life from nothing, trying to live day by day,\u201d Daniel Pepi recalled in The Long Game,<\/a> a new book about U.S. men\u2019s soccer. \u201cBack in El Paso, life was not that easy. Starting a family, you have to work long days and sometimes it\u2019s really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hard work was core to Daniel\u2019s identity\u2014after all, he had started working at age 13 in concrete finishing\u2014but as Ricardo\u2019s soccer talent emerged<\/a>, so did the costs. Elite youth tournaments meant frequent travel, expenses that often stretched the family to its limit.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou used to do whatever you needed to do to get that money and take them,\u201d Daniel said. \u201cSometimes we used to borrow some money. Sometimes I would ask for a loan at my job, or from my dad. Sometimes I had to pawn the title to the car. Whatever we had to do to just keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sacrifices came with expectations. Ricardo\u2019s has said his father\u2019s willingness to invest time and money into his soccer career also instilled a relentless work ethic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he thought I was being lazy, he would always get me off the field and he would take me home and say, \u2018If you don\u2019t want to play, then throw your uniform away, your boots away. You\u2019re not going to waste my time or my money,’\u201d Ricardo said in the book. \u201cIt was really direct, but I feel like I\u2019m here for that reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ricardo Pepi\u2019s family sacrifices built a foundation on grit\u2014and are now paying multimillion-dollar dividends<\/p>\n

Those sacrifices ultimately helped propel Pepi<\/a> to soccer\u2019s biggest stage. He made his MLS debut at 16 and earned his first U.S. Men\u2019s National Team call-up at 18. In 2023, he joined Dutch team PSV Eindhoven in a transfer reportedly worth roughly<\/a> $10 million, one of the largest fees ever paid for an American striker.<\/p>\n

Now 23, Pepi is expected to be a core piece of Team USA\u2019s squad as the U.S. hopes to make a deep World Cup run on home turf.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His rise has also brought a significant financial upside. FIFA\u2019s winning national team can earn up to $50 million in prize money<\/a>, funds that are often distributed, at least in part, among players and team personnel. Though Pepi\u2019s exact net worth is unclear, his earnings have likely climbed into the seven figures in recent years through club contracts, performance bonuses, and endorsements, including with Fortune 500 brands like Home Depot<\/a>, Allstate<\/a>, and Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Elite athletes to Fortune 500 CEOs agree: the power of hard work is unbeatable<\/p>\n

Pepi\u2019s rise from a trailer in El Paso to the World Cup stage underscores a lesson that extends far beyond sports: talent matters, but discipline and persistence separate potential from success.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former NBA player Metta World Peace told Fortune<\/a> earlier this year that he learned that lesson firsthand from Kobe Bryant. Curious whether stories about Bryant\u2019s relentless work ethic were true, World Peace decided to test them himself.<\/p>\n

He showed up to the gym at 8 a.m.\u2014what he considered an early start\u2014expecting to catch Bryant midway through a workout. Instead, Bryant was already finished.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was all showered up. He was done,\u201d the 46-year-old recalled. \u201cAnd I thought I was working hard!\u201d<\/p>\n

The lesson stuck: even if you think you\u2019re putting in the effort, there is often someone\u2014maybe even on your own team\u2014willing to work harder.<\/p>\n

Top business leaders often frame success in similar terms. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy<\/a>, for example, has argued that success in any field often begins with a willingness to start small and put in the work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you aren\u2019t willing to start at the bottom and pay your dues, it\u2019s unlikely that you\u2019re going to ever be successful,\u201d Jassy said on Capital Group\u2019s Power of Advice podcast<\/a> earlier this year. \u201cYou have to be willing to start at the bottom. You have to do whatever people ask you to do, within reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jassy, who played soccer at Harvard before pivoting into business, has said trial and error helped shape his own career path.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to have an idea,\u201d Jassy said. \u201cBut it\u2019s very useful to try a lot of different things to figure out what you don\u2019t like and what you do like.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Pepi, the lesson appears to have started early: talent may open doors, but\u2014as his father repeatedly reminded him\u2014hard work determines whether they stay open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Ricardo Pepi suited up for Team USA\u2019s World Cup opener against Paraguay on Friday, it marked more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[120285,120286,89554,26981,138,140,139,10548,6068,731,154,3692],"class_list":["post-337155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-building-your-career","tag-career-development","tag-career-success","tag-careers","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-parenting","tag-professional-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}