USMNT’s Ricardo Pepi and Mark McKenzie speak to the media ahead of the CopaAmerica

(Photo taken by Francisco Avila) (Photo Left to Right: USMNT, PSV Forward Ricardo
Pepi and Center-Back Mark McKenzie)

U.S. Men’s Soccer Team players Forward Ricardo Pepi and Center-Back Mark McKenzie spoke
to the media ahead of the Copa America reacting to Christian Pulisic’s influence on the team, the
team expectations for the Copa America and how they’re able to compete with major opposition,
and on how Pepi feels playing at home for USMNT’s opening game in the Copa America against
Bolivia.

Pepi and McKenzie note the importance of having Pulisic in the squad and his influence to
the squad behind closed doors

Initially, Pepi and McKenzie spoke to the media answering specific things that Christian does in
terms of leadership behind the scenes that everyone outside closed doors dosen’t see.

Initially, Pepi answered saying how, “I think he’s one of the players who, most of the time he
shows you with actions. There are times in training where we’re slacking a little bit or we’re not
doing the best we can. And, that’s when he’s going to come up to you and he’s going to be telling
you like, ‘Hey, you need to step it up,’ But, I think most of the time it’s just actions on the pitch.
He’s showing you that he’s hungry. He’s showing you what he wants from the team. And I think
that’s the best quality for me.”

McKenzie also responded by commenting on Pulisic’s leadership saying how, “I think he’s a guy
who leads a lot by example, by his demeanor, by his aggression, his resilience to kind of go each
and every action to the fullest of his ability. But I think again, he’s holding guys accountable,
something that some people won’t see, it may not be a thing of where he’s, loud and boisterous in
his body language. But once he gets a moment, and there may be a moment where the ball is out
of play, he’s going to pull your side and say, ‘Hey, like, wake up, you know, come on.’ We need
more. And I think those moments are key because it really shows that the guys are as much as we
are our boys off the pitch. Once we step on the pitch, it’s about business and he wants to win just
as much as we all do. So to have a guy like him really showing that is really important.”

Pepi and McKenzie also comment on the team’s takeaways from the Columbia and Brazil
friendlies

The media also asked Pepi and McKenzie on the two takeaways from the recent two two
friendlies against Columbia and Brazil and what the group learned about themselves as a team
that they can apply towards the upcoming Copa America game against Bolivia and moving
forward.

Pepi answered first saying how, “I think one of the main things that as a group is we can compete
against any team in the world. We saw versus Brazil, we unfortunately got a not-so-good result
versus Columbia and then we were able to turn it around. So it just shows the mentality that we
have as a team. So be able to just, learn from our mistakes and then take it on to the next game.
So I think that was very important for us. And, like I said, a very important lesson.

McKenzie also responded by saying how “I’d say also, we talk about intensity being the starting
point. It’s, it’s been a common theme and we look at the Columbia game and where we lacked
intensity in some in some ways, whether it be attacking transition to defensive transition. So that
was one area where we really wanted to improve on and take the game, not sit back. And then
the other point is, ultimately focusing on performance more than anything else. If you put
together a quality performance in many cases, the result will follow. But the moment you start
thinking about the result and wanting to get the result, you may still focus on playing and putting
together a quality performance. So I think again, intensity and focusing on performance were two
things as well that we took away from both games.”

Pepi comments on how he feels playing at home, Expectations ahead of the Copa America

The media also lastly asked specifically Pepi on how he feels playing at home in front of his
family for the first game of the Copa America and on the team’s expectations for the tournament.

“Yes, something special, to be here in front of my family, to be with the group again. And well,
competing in this tournament is something special. Obviously playing here in Dallas is
something very nice for me. On the subject of the expectations of the group, I think we have a lot
of expectations. We put the expectations on ourselves. We want to go game by game. We want
to focus first on the game that comes first and then on the ones that come after. And I think that
winning each game is obviously the expectation.

What’s Next

UMNT players Pepi, McKenzie, the rest of the squad, and the coaching staff will now look
towards final preparation for the 2024 Copa America beginning for the U.S. team on Sunday,
June 23rd with their first group stage match against Bolivia at 5 p.m. Central time.

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