El Paso Anchor Goes Viral Over Ricardo Pepi’s World Cup Snub

How cool, the U.S. Men’s National Team will have an El Pasoan on it for the World Cup.

Just kidding.

El Paso’s own Ricardo Pepi was snubbed a roster spot. And it has people SHOOK. It even has a local El Paso TV sports anchor going viral. More on that in a moment…

First, some background.

The World Cup is actually being played in November this year instead of this past summer because it’s in Qatar. If they played Qatar 2022 in June/July, which are the typical months for the World Cup, most games would likely be played in triple-digit heat.

Okay, back to Ricardo Pepi being snubbed from the USMNT roster.

There are 26 players selected to the team. Many thought the El Paso kid would be one of them. He’s only 19, but he turned heads throughout World Cup Qualifying.

Yeah, not the kind of history you want to make.

That leads me to this:

KTSM Sports Director in El Paso Colin Deaver shared his frustration – even mentioning a story he’s been wanting to tell once Pepi was getting ready to play in the World Cup. (Guess he’ll have to wait until 2026)

But it’s this part of what he said that made him go viral on social media:

“Thanks a lot Gregg Berhalter, you idiot. I hope you lose, Greg.”

Yikes! That video has nearly 50,000 views in two days. Colin did follow it up with a tweet making it clear he was joking, but El Pasoans (and many USMNT diehards) feel his frustration.

Just see these reactions (including from the one and only Duke Keith):

There was some speculation about an injury keeping him off the roster, but:

Okay, this one is just rude:

But in 2026, could there be TWO El Pasoans on the roster?

We shall see. But if Pepi’s snub hasn’t stopped you from wanting to say “Go, go USA!” mark the date: the USMNT opens its World Cup slate November 21 against Wales. They’ll also play England and Iran in group play.