FRISCO -- It can't be easy being Ricardo Pepi.

He's just 16 years old and already people are talking about the North Texas Soccer Club forward as the next big thing for FC Dallas.

On top of the expectations here at home, there are people watching across two nations. The Mexican-American is eligible to represent the U.S. and Mexico national teams, with the hat trick he scored in his professional debut fanning the already considerable flames around his potential.

It's tough to imagine the amount of work, dedication and sweat that has gone into getting to this point.

"It's not really a challenge to get to where I am," Pepi said last week after wrapping up a training with the FC Dallas first team.

Oh.

"To stay there, that's the challenge," he continued. "I'm just going to keep working hard, working with the first team and working with my team trying to get better."

Even if Pepi is underselling his journey so far, everyone agrees the teenager can get better. That is, after all, the point of signing with North Texas SC. The squad is a newly created team in the USL League. One built to give players like Pepi an opportunity to play against experienced players and other rising stars and get critical game minutes.

"It's invaluable. With every game, he's getting more and more of an education," North Texas SC coach Eric Quill said. "Innately, he studies the game at a high level. I think he's constantly evaluating himself and he's got multiple solutions to everything that gets thrown at him. I'm just been amazed by so many different ways he can hurt teams."

In addition to his debut hat trick, Pepi also showed off his vision, switching the field at points, playing quick one-touch passes back to wingers at others, in the 3-2 win over the Chattanooga Red Wolves. Those are the same skills he's shown since starting off in the El Paso branch of the FCD academy. FCD head coach Luchi Gonzalez can still remember seeing Pepi stand out at an even younger age.

"I remember seeing Pepi in El Paso, myself and (FCD youth coach) Francisco Molina, doing our rounds in El Paso and seeing all the young players. This was about four years ago. He was a U-12 or U-13 player," said Gonzalez, who was FCD's academy director at the time. "He had something different around the goal, and he's kind of growing into his body. He's still not fully physically developed.

"What we see there is a brave, creative, mobile forward - because he also can play on the wing - that's got a really good sense of time and positioning around the goal to either score or set up his teammates. It's great to see a young player like that coming up and performing with older players in the second team and I know he's competing for the ultimate goal of playing with the first team one day and maybe with the senior national team one day."

Which team that will be remains an open question. The El Paso native has accepted call-ups into both U.S. and Mexico camps, though he most recently participated in a U.S. U-17 camp that ran between April 4-8.

"I'll go with whichever national team that gives me opportunities to keep on growing as a player and as a person," Pepi said. "The one that gives me the best opportunities and will always be there for me, the one who opens the door for me first is the one I'm playing for."

With qualification taking place in May and the U-17 World Cup set for early November, Pepi looks like he's on the way to suiting up for the Stars and Stripes as a youth player. That is one of a few ambitious goals Pepi has set out for 2019.

"My goals for this year are to go to the U-17 World Cup, probably make my debut for the first team and keep on scoring more goals for North Texas," Pepi said.

Why should fans by in? How do we know Pepi won't be another young phenom who excites fans with potential but can't turn it into results? For one, there's FC Dallas' track record of turning academy prospects into first-team contributors. Beyond that, his coaches say, is Pepi's drive - drive the player may say comes naturally but one coaches say is unique to the forward.

"This kid, his parents have done an exceptional job raising him. He's got his feet on the ground. He's as humble as they come. His coach-ability is through the roof," Quill said. "He's mature beyond his years when it comes to all the surroundings that are taking place. You wouldn't catch a glimpse of him thinking he's above anything we do out here. He respects his teammates, respects his coaches, shakes everybody's hand, he's just a class A individual."

If he continues on this trajectory, it won't be long before Pepi is a class A forward as well.