Chris Richards on USMNT’s Dream Start, Seattle’s Country Roads Moment, and Why Not Us?: Men in Blazers 06/24/26

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1:57Listen to 1440 Explores wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network, suboptimal radio. Maybe going into the game, we still hadn't ever looked as solid as we did in that Paraguay game. I think after the first five minutes, we were like, OK, this is something special. Let's keep it up. And that's what we did for 90 minutes. We all knew that we had something like this in our locker. It was just a matter of timing and no better time than the World Cup.

2:28One of my favourite American footballers of all time. Man has just made history with the US men's team winning back-to-back World Cup group stage games for the first time in 96 years. Tim Ream was just a boy. Pass perfect, rock steady, World Cup group winner. Something the US men have only done twice before. It's a joy to see him. Welcome back to the best thing out of Alabama since white sauce barbecue. It's Chris Richards. Thanks for having me, Raj. Chris, these are amazing days. First thing the world wants to know, who drilled that ball into your face in training? Are you okay? And who gets worse payback?

3:03The culprit or Anthony Robinson for laughing? Matt Turner was the one who smacked it to my face. Oh, no, I think... Nice guy, Matty T. I know, right? But honestly, I think Anthony Robinson will get it worse than Matty will. Does he know when it's coming? No, I'll never know. He'll just come in the dark. He'll never see what hits him. Exactly. It might take a few days, a few weeks, but he'll know. He won't hear you, but he'll know. By the way, the amazing thing about that is you've got no sympathy from anybody. Someone, I don't know who it was, shouted, sit down. Yeah, I don't care. I'm going to keep doing myself.

3:40Let's talk about yourself, because it is an amazing time to be with you. After the agony of missing the 2022 World Cup due to hamstring injury, you left that tunnel in SoFi, took the field against Paraguay, and now you, Chris Richards, child of Hoover, Alabama, and now Chris Richards, World Cup footballer. What does that sound like? What's that feel like to hear and know? It makes me proud. Again, after missing out on the last one, I think all the emotions hit me when I walked out of the tunnel and heard the national end for the first time and saw my family in the stands. That was probably the proudest football moment that I've had in my life so far.

4:19To more, please God, to come. But you've got to explain to us, from your perspective, the US has had good days in this cycle. We've had some challenging days, but we've never played such all-outs. swashbuckling, razzle-dazzle football as we have these first two games. The goals, the movement, the complex interplay in the attack. Really the swaz and the swagger. Serious question. No BS. What's happened? What's suddenly clicked from the inside? How do you explain it to yourselves? I feel like we knew that we had it all along. It's just a matter of getting the right people on the field at the right time.

4:57And I think maybe going into the game, we still hadn't ever looked as solid as we did in that Paraguay game. But I think after the first five minutes, we were like, OK, this is something special. Let's keep it up. And that's what we did for 90 minutes. But I think we all knew that we had something like this in our locker. It was just a matter of timing and no better time than the World Cup. But of what, Chris? What changed? I'm trying to work this out. Now, Potch has talked about the system, how the American players, how you have really, quote, high footballing IQs. You just suddenly got it. But it seems to have happened, honestly, belatedly and overnight.

5:32I don't like to be hyperbolic. The Paraguay game was like watching the league show at their best. Can you describe Potch's system in your own words, the idea of football, and how you've suddenly figured it out? Yeah, I mean, I think you're the nail on the head. It's complex. But also, whenever you do lose the ball, you kind of have to smuggle the opponent. And that's exactly what we've tried to do. You know, you don't need that much possession if every time you lose the ball, you win it straight up there and get a chance. Obviously, in possession, I think somebody referred to it as a triangle offense, kind of like the old Bulls.

6:02You know, it's just about intensity. I think you can fix a lot of problems with intensity and with effort. And that's something that we've really tried to hone in on. We understand that it's not going to be a perfect game. But if, you know, if every time you lose the ball, you try to win it back immediately. if every time you press, the whole team's pressing with you, we're going to be a tough team to play against. So it's IQ, it's intensity, but it also seems like you guys are feeding off the fans and the fans are feeding off you in this cycle. We've seen South Korea, 2002, go to the semifinal.

6:35We've seen Germany, a young Germany, Royal Germany, 2006, go to the semifinal. Even Russia, 2018, went to the quarterfinal. You know, how much is that in an intangible in your mind, your heart, your play, the fans? It's an amazing feeling. Again, you know, whenever we're playing these big games, seeing 70 ,000, 80 ,000 USA fans, it means a lot to us on the field. And we want to make sure that they're not coming to games just to see us participate. We want to make sure they see us going out there and representing our country and hopefully getting a win. So for us, you know, we take a lot of pride in our country.

7:07But also we take a lot of pride of the people that are in the stands who are there to watch us. So every time I go out there, we want to put on a show. But I think it just means a little bit more because we are on home soil. I heard you talk recently about your mental approach representing your country. And I loved it, Chris. You said we need to be, quote, overly American. And when you said that, I thought about pickup trucks, blowing up things recreationally, bald eagles, the word you're all, country music. What does it mean to you, though, in a footballing sense to be overly American? Every place I've lived in, everyone's like, oh, you're overly American.

7:45You love your country. You say y 'all. You're from Alabama, the most American place on the planet. I love that word. The overly. The overly adjective to that. I love it, you know, because ultimately I am American. But I think when people think of being American in a soccer term, they think of, oh, they're athletic. They're strong. Maybe they lack a bit of soccer IQ or they lack a bit of smartness or technique, whatever the case is, but if that's the case, then we'll outrun you and we'll out physically you and we'll show you that we have caught up with the rest of the world when it comes to the other bits.

8:17So for me, it's just making sure that we don't lose our identity when it comes to the athletic side of the game, but also when it comes to the technical side of the game. I think we've shown a lot of teams that we can definitely play through them. And as the world arrived in the United States for the biggest spectacle in sports, We're going coast to coast, host city to host city to meet the world with the Men in Blazers Match Day Live Tour. These are free college game day style live events taking place just before kickoff at some of the biggest games of the summer where we'll be taking the stage with celebrity guests in front of thousands of fans.

8:54It's going to be amazing. Come and be with us in person or from afar on YouTube and let's celebrate this summer the way it's meant to be celebrated. Just head to the events tab on meninblazers.com for all the details. To the football, to more together courage. There's American and there's overly American. And you're living that on the field. You're passing. We've got to talk about it. Chris Richards, do you know how many passes you've misplaced in this World Cup? I've heard it's a few. When I'm on the field, I'm not thinking about it. Do you know how many? Four. It's four. You've hit 175 out of 179.

9:33Second highest passing accuracy by a player in their first two World Cup games since 1966. Is it the system? Is this just you playing with the fourth? Or are you Xavi in disguise and we just didn't know it all along? I'd say it's not the last one. I think one of the good parts about the system that we play in is that we have a lot of guys that are amazing on the ball. And so for me, it's OK, how do I find these guys to make our team better? You know, how do I find these guys to advance the attack? And it's crazy. I remember after the first game, people were like, oh, you didn't miss a pass. And when I'm on the field again, I'm not thinking about it.

10:09So for me, it's a crazy feeling. It's a crazy stat to have broken. But it is just me getting it to the people on the field who I know can make magic. You're not aware of it now, now that it's become a thing. Are you just in a passing groove and it's only after the game that you realize just how good your distribution was? Yeah, I'm just passing. I'm not thinking about, oh, I need to make a line breaking passing here or I need to do this or do that. I just do what I do best. I defend really well. I'm good on the ball, but there's some guys on the field that are better than me on the ball, so let me get it to them.

10:41Honestly, you're passing like Jalen Hurts. I want to talk about the Seattle experience against Australia. You're a Premier League stalwart. You've been to Old Trafford. You've been to Anfield. You played at Wembley at the loudest. Was the atmosphere in Seattle the best experience you've ever had? I think it's definitely up there. That day at Wembley was amazing. That's probably the best atmosphere I've ever heard in Europe. But for me, that game in Seattle, I'd always heard about it. I always heard about the Pacific Northwest and what they contribute to our American soccer system and how passionate fans are up there.

11:18But for me, hearing that, being on the good side, per se, and even after the game, you know, hearing everybody singing, the whole stadium singing, we were all singing on the field. Our fans were singing. It was a beautiful moment. And I think for me, that was, again, you know, another really proud moment in my career. But when I speak about being overly American, I feel like that atmosphere in Seattle was one of those top moments. Scenes from across America, from the viewing parties, places like San Jose, Hartford, Birmingham, Alabama. I find it very moving watching them. Do you guys watch? You've played so many games to small audiences you've dreamed about these days.

11:57Can you articulate what you experience emotionally when you watch them? I think the reoccurring theme is pride. It's something that we've all dreamt of growing up, of people from our hometown being able to watch us play. And we've all dreamt of playing on the highest stage. And now both of those things are coming true. And so being able to obviously see the 70 ,000, 80 ,000 in the stadium but also seeing the 200 at a watch party or seeing the the 20 at a watch party even that almost that makes us just as proud as if they were in the stadium you know so i'll speak on behalf of my teammates everybody has enjoyed this experience not just because of the stuff we're doing on the field but also the memories we're helping create uh off the field it is the real deal and i want to get back to that in camp who's the gent that we'd be surprised is like the joyous gent who's pulling it all together the glue guy i think mark mckenzie is definitely a guy who I would say Mark keeps everybody grounded keeps everybody humble I think also Matt Turner he's also one of those guys that's the face assassin minus what he did earlier this week he's a good glue guy as well but I mean honestly I couldn't I couldn't say a bad word about anybody on this team I think one strength that we have is that maybe we do have cliques based on where we grew up or you know experiences that we shared together but ultimately you could put any eight guys at a table at dinner and all those tables will be laughing, laughing their heads off.

13:17So I think that's one of the amazing parts about this team. Golf used to be the bond for so many of the players in the last cycle. I don't know if it still is, but what's the biggest current time-killing activity that you're all sharing in camp? Well, we have a big players' lounge where we've been watching all the games. And it's been really funny seeing people's advertisements come up. So there's like a Matt Free sports clips on. There's a Tyler Adams has like a Tums one. Tyler's good, man. yeah it's it's it's funny it's funny to to just kind of be watching tv and you know like or during one of the hydration breaks you know everyone's on their phone and then you hear somebody's voice on the tv and you're like another voice and you look up it's one of the lads it's been cool that that's been a really funny moment um with christian when it comes out you say hey play you for the ultras yeah exactly it's like some of these guys need to stick to their day jobs you know i'm not sure acting's in the cards he's a method actor man i actually think christian wells fargo christian could be best supporting actor.

14:14Yeah, I think he did well. I think he did well. I think there's some other ones that are questionable, but I think that he did pretty well. Talking about teammates, Crystal Palace sent 12 players to this World Cup. At the outset of the tournament, that was more than Real Madrid, still more than Liverpool and AC Milan. Players like Dean Henderson with England, Ismael Assar banging in the goals for Senegal, Daichi Kamada doing the same with Japan. Do you all stay in touch with each other? Is there like a Super Eagles World Cup WhatsApp group? Do you have time to track out your club teammates? Not all of us have been texting off the tournament because games are at crazy times.

14:47But we are trying to keep in contact as much as possible. Even like I was texting Jorgen Strand-Larsen yesterday and we were just kicking it. He was just like, oh, bro, America is amazing. I was asking him how his experience has gone. And again, this is a lot of our first World Cups. So we're all experiencing these things for the first time. And again, I think people kind of have this notion about what they think America is. And now they're finally being able to experience all the different cultures and all the different landscapes and all these different things that we have in this country. So that's been, I think, the coolest part about all of this is that these guys who I play with week in and week out, who maybe didn't really know what to expect from America, are now having some of the best times of their lives.

15:26Daichi Kamada wanders into a Waffle House, discovers smothered and covered and has his mind blown. Yeah, I think his head would actually explode if he walked into a Waffle House. I want to quickly look ahead to the Turkey game tomorrow. All right, we'll be getting the LA crowd ready to go absolutely berserk for you at the Matchday Live program at the Union Station. But for the game, we had a question from our Discord from Matt T. Cook, who wrote, Chris, teams need chemistry, especially back lines. How does a squad feel about rotation for a game that may not matter on paper at the end of the group stage?

15:56Do you want the rest? Or would you rather avoid breaking the starting squad rhythm? I think there's this fine balance. Obviously, we're in a good rhythm right now when it comes to the games we played and the results we've gotten. but also there are some guys who are on yellow card trouble like myself. But again, one of the strengths of this team is the depth of it. And we understand that anybody can come in at any given moment, regardless of if it's resting somebody or if it's an injury, knock on wood, or whatever the case is. We know that the next guy up is going to bring the exact same kind of quality.

16:25So for me, I love playing every game. But if Gafford decides something else, then he's the coach for a reason, and I'll accept it. But again, I think that's one of the strengths of the team is that if I'm not starting, I'll be on the sideline cheering on the guy who's playing over me, just like I'm his biggest fan. So it's up in there.

16:46Let me ask you about the gaffer, Mauricio Pochettino, Argentinian Russell Crowe. After this cycle, what is something that Poch has taught you that you'll carry with you into the next phase of your career? I like the saying that he's kind of made his slogan over the last few months is, why not us? We're America, obviously, and I think that's a very ambitious quote from him. We're a land of dreamers. And I think in the past, maybe we've been OK with going to World Cups or going to big tournaments and not necessarily participating, but being like, oh, we want to make it to the round of 32. We want to make it to the round of 16.

17:21We want to go as far as possible. We want to win. And every game we play, every tournament we play, we want to win both of those things. So I think to limit ourselves with, oh, we want to go to the quarterfinals. Oh, we want to make it to the semifinals. I want to win. And so, like I said, I think his quote, why not us? I think that's something that I'll always bring within my career. I mean, I've experienced it with Palace. So I think it's good to have that same mindset and mentality when it comes to the national team. I mean, you have experienced it with Palace. When you join Palace, if I were going to jump back in time and be like, Chris, you are going to win things, European things, you would have thought I was an idiot.

17:58I mean, why not us? It's a very powerful idea. It is beautifully. overly American. The Opta computer currently has a 2.84 % chance the United States can win this World Cup. What do you say to the Opta computer, Chris Richards? 2.84 is a lot of percent. For me, all I can think about is that dumb and dumber quote. He's like, you're telling me there's a chance. That's all we need. And even if the computer doesn't have us higher than that, we believe 100 % in ourselves. So that's the big thing. So if you take your 100 and add optus 2.84%, you've got a 102.84 % chance of winning. Those are really good huts.

18:39Come on, USA by a million. Last question for you, Chris. The Country Roads moment at the end of the game in Seattle was profound. It was really beautiful to watch. You experienced it. What did it feel like for you? Have you ever felt anything like that in your playing career? No, it's a beautiful song. And it's a song that just like the Star Spangled Banner that I think 99.9 % of Americans know. And so it was cool to be walking around and you're singing, but it's so loud. So you don't know who's doing something like around you or beside you. And you look to your left and somebody's singing. You look to your right.

19:17Somebody's singing. You're looking in the stands for your family and they're singing as well. You know, take away the playing of the Australia game. I think that moment was just as big, just as great. And I think it's also showed, you know, not just the rest of the teams in this field, but also showed the country that, you know, we can unite each other, that we can stand for the same things, that we can love America. And I think that song kind of personified that. I thought about you, man, watching that. the sacrifice, the journey, the success, the failure, the hard miles, the pain missing out the last World Cup, which was yours and then was not, and then the grind back again.

20:00Did you think about that in that moment, what you and your family have been through to get to this moment? Yeah, I mean, it felt like a full circle moment, honestly. My whole life I've jumped to this moment and it got taken away from me four years ago and everything in the last four years has led me back to this moment. And so for me, hearing that song after such a performance, it was, again, a very emotional moment for me. Who chose the song? I don't know, but they need a raise. That was all wrong. That was amazing. Country Roads, take me home to the place I belong. Are you all aware that goal by goal, tackle by tackle, song by song, you're all transforming the profile of men's football in the United States, hopefully forever?

20:43Yeah, I mean, we're obviously trying to put in good performances and win games. But if in the process we can also inspire the next generation and in 20 years, you know, you hear guys going on interviews saying, oh, that 20, 2016, they're the ones that inspired me. Then I think ultimately our careers were a success in this World Cup was a success. Life is old there, older than the trees, younger than the mountains, growing like a breeze. When I say those lyrics, USA, 102.84%. Yeah. There we go. chris richards you're a beautiful human being to more and huge huge thank you from all of us thank you raj big love courage