‘That lifelong dream came true’: USMNT’s Richards puts World Cup heartbreak behind him
Chris Richards is the proud owner of a small flock of rubber chickens. The first member of the group, Paxo Lacroix, was adopted after Richards picked him up from the Leipzig pitch, thrown there by a fan amid the celebrations of Crystal Palace’s UEFA Conference League final victory over Rayo Vallecano in May.
“He became my spirit animal,” Richards told ESPN. “He’s traveled a lot now. He was my memory of good luck at the World Cup.”
He found another rubber chicken on vacation after the tournament. It has become a favorite project for his partner and daughter to continue adding to their collection.
“Now we have a little family of chickens,” he said.
The chickens are memories of a summer in which Richards was a key part of the U.S. men’s national team that captured America’s attention in a World Cup at home. Since then, and following the devastation of the team’s 4-1 loss to Belgium in the round of 16, Richards has been recalibrating.
As a child, he described on a sticky note his soccer dream: to play for the national team in a World Cup on home soil. Work done, but football doesn’t wait. There is another season to play, more goals to achieve, Europe to conquer. At 26, Richards is the most senior man in Crystal Palace’s defence. He is aware of the responsibility that this entails and is willing to take advantage of the lessons learned from Bayern Munich, where he played from 2018 to 2022, and from his time in the Premier League to accept being a leader for both club and country.
After the loss to Belgium, Richards was distracted and memories of the loss frequently interrupted his train of thought. Gradually, pride diluted the disappointment, especially given that at one point he feared his World Cup dream would be taken away from him before it began.
In the penultimate game of Palace’s 2025-26 season, Richards tore ankle ligaments against Brentford. As Palace won their first European trophy with their 1-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League, he continued to watch. That’s where he found Paxo Lacroix lying among the red and blue confetti, but it was a strange experience.
“Not being able to play meant it was a strange day for me because I’ve been part of the team and those on the field are my brothers,” Richards said, “but I also had a World Cup around the corner and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to play because of the injury.”
Fortunately for him, when the USMNT played Paraguay in their first game on June 12, Richards was healed. What followed over the next fortnight was a carnival of red, white and blue football euphoria. Hollywood celebrities clamored for tickets. The USMNT appeared on the front page of major newspapers in the United States and on the For You page of millions of people on TikTok.
The USMNT had captured the nation’s attention.
“I’ve lived in London and Germany and you see how popular the sport is, and then you come home and you don’t feel the same excitement,” Richards said in an interview arranged through his partnership with Stelo. “But then, during the World Cup, everything intensified.
“We were on ESPN, we were in Times Square. It was incredible for us and our families to see that, because they know the sacrifices we make. It was an incredible moment for America to realize how great sports is.”
The United States was optimistic heading into the round of 16 match, despite the furor over the decision to overturn Folarin Balogun’s red card in the team’s previous victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina. Richards said the noise didn’t disrupt the players’ preparation, but he thought the commotion “put a bigger target” on the team’s back. Still, the United States hoped to reach the quarterfinals to continue this extraordinary journey. But that optimism was soon extinguished.
Richards struggled to contain Nicolas Raskin in the American box, and the Rangers midfielder allowed Charles De Ketelaere to score the first goal. The loss of Richards inside his own area in second-half injury time led to Romelu Lukaku finishing off the co-hosts by scoring to make it 4-1 at full time.
The loss to Belgium was instructive and frustrating in equal measure. Richards went through her own process of processing disappointment.
“I’m sure the days after the game, I… I couldn’t,” Richards paused to choose his next words. “I felt like I let myself down, my country, my family, who came to see me.
“As a defender, you live by the sword and you die by the sword. You make a mistake and ultimately that’s the other team’s game. I really took it to heart and it hurt me.”
A couple of days after the defeat, he visited Tokyo with his family.
“It was hard to enjoy the holiday because I was constantly thinking, ‘What if I had done X, Y and Z differently in the game?'” he said.
After Tokyo, they headed to New York and finished their three-week break in Portugal’s Algarve. Having an almost 2-year-old daughter keeps Richards on his toes, and his family helped him heal the pain of the loss to Belgium.
“My family called me… when I say My familyI’m talking about my mom, my dad, and my little brothers and sisters. They called me and said, ‘You know, this was the experience of a lifetime.’ Thank you very much for taking us. It’s been more than enough to see you live the dream you’ve had on your sticky note since you were 8 years old,'” Richards said.
“A week later, I was able to look back on it as something bigger than the result. In Tokyo, people wanted to take pictures. It was an incredible feeling, and I think that’s when I really started to realize that it’s more than a result, it’s the inspiration you give to people, whether they’re American or not.
“So when you take a step back, when you come away from what happened on the field, you think about all the positive changes and influences that we have had not only on our country, but also on the next generation of soccer players, hopefully one day the United States will lift a World Cup.”
The free time flew by and then it was back to the daily grind: another relentless season in the Premier League to endure, a place in the national team to hold on to.
For a long time, Richards’s north star was the World Cup; The daily work was at the service of reaching that tournament in full shape and physical condition. But once that moment passed, it left a void.
“That’s exactly what I talked to my family about the other day: that dream of my entire life came true. Now it’s next time,” he said. “Obviously it’s about getting to the next World Cup, but it’s also about making sure of everything I want to do in these next few months, years leading up to that.
“I won a European competition last year. I want to do the same this year. I want to finish higher in the table than last year. But also for me it is to continue being a leader for both the club and the country.”
Richards’ career began in the FC Dallas academy, but took off at Bayern Munich, where he thrived thanks to the tough love of the first team. In training he played in a group that hoped to triumph as eternal champion of the Bundesliga.
“I’ll never forget that in one of my first training sessions we were doing a passing drill. Arjen Robben was the person in front of me, so it was happening to him. You had to be very precise. If it wasn’t with his left foot, he didn’t necessarily want it. Everyone knew how to play with him, with his left foot, but me, being the new kid, I didn’t do it. So it was something I realized you really had to concentrate on.”
Palace picked him up in 2022. There he grew as a player and understood more about himself and what he needs to do to improve. In recent years, it has gone down several rabbit holes in the recovery space. As a result, he uses a Stelo glucose biosensor, from which he has learned how his body would benefit from certain supplements before bed to aid recovery.
“Physically, I’m always looking for that extra 1%,” Richards said. “It’s always about finding the edge.”
The Palace to which he has returned is different from the one he said goodbye to in May. It is a club in permanent transition. It seems like every year a world-class player leaves. Two years ago, Michael Olise left for Bayern Munich. Last summer, Eberechi Eze signed for Arsenal. In January, Marc Guéhi left for Manchester City.
This summer, Maxence Lacroix (the famous rubber chicken with a similar name) signed for Chelsea. The Eagles also have a new coach to integrate this season, with Pierre Sage replacing Oliver Glasner.
Richards is the first-choice centre-back this year, alongside Chadi Riad (23), Jaydee Canvot (20), Takehiro Tomiyasu (27) and Axel Disasi (28). Palace have also added American teenage winger Zavier Gozo to their ranks, whom Richards will take under his wing.
Amid the personnel change, Richards remains a constant. He has played alongside and against some of the best players in the world, but now wants to get a chance at some of the best clubs in Europe. And maybe along the way, as Palace traverses the continent, he could add a few more chickens to his flock.
“I have not given [the others] names yet,” Richards said. “I think the name will find them at some point, depending on what game I take them to. That’s where you’ll find your name.”
