Chris Richards bails out USMNT at both ends in win over Saudi Arabia
AUSTIN — Chris Richards is on the field for the U.S. men's national soccer team because of his defensive aptitude, and in the first half of a sluggish Concacaf Gold Cup match against Saudi Arabia on Thursday, the 25-year-old center back executed a magnificent rescue.
If that had been the extent of Richards's notable contributions, Coach Mauricio Pochettino would have been satisfied.
But the Premier League-based Alabaman also found his way into winning the Group D affair, getting on the end of Sebastian Berhalter's 63rd-minute free kick for a 1-0 victory at Q2 Stadium.
The Americans (2-0-0) clinched a quarterfinal berth and all but secured first place heading into the group finale Sunday against Haiti (0-1-1) in Arlington, Texas. Saudi Arabia, a guest in the regional tournament, is 1-1-0 with Sunday's game remaining against Trinidad and Tobago (0-1-1) in Las Vegas.
The United States had a much rougher time Thursday than last weekend, when it thumped Trinidad and Tobago, 5-0, in San Jose. A sloppy, uninspiring first half yielded to a sharper second half before Richards scored his second goal in 27 appearances.
Berhalter — son of former U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter in his first national team camp — served a pinpoint free kick from 35 yards into the heart of the box. Onside by inches, Richards stabbed the ball with his left foot on the short hop from eight yards.
The Gold Cup is the biennial championship for North and Central America and the Caribbean. So what in the world is Saudi Arabia doing here?
Concacaf has a history of inviting guests, and while teams from South America have made sense, the governing body has also welcomed South Korea and South Africa. The previous two tournaments, Qatar participated.
Concacaf cites an agreement with the Asian Football Confederation to work together. Inviting Qatar and now Saudi Arabia to the Gold Cup brought along corporate interests as well. Qatar Airways was a major sponsor in 2021 and '23, and this year's tournament backers include the Saudi tourism arm; Riyadh Air; Aramco, the state-owned oil company; and PIF, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund that owns LIV Golf.
In Austin, some fans held up green placards with 'Goal' on one side and 'PIF' on the other.
The crowd was sparse at kickoff. On a warm weeknight with high ticket prices, an underwhelming U.S. team that had played a friendly here in October and an unfancied opponent, the match was a tough sell — even at a 20,738-seat stadium where Austin FC has sold out 80 consecutive MLS matches.
After a pair of World Cup qualifiers, the Saudis arrived at the Gold Cup without several key players who are on assignment with their Riyadh club, Al Hilal, in the FIFA Club World Cup, which is running concurrently at U.S. venues. That group included midfielder Salem Al-Dawsari, who scored in the 2022 World Cup opener against Argentina.
Because of absences for a variety of reasons, the U.S. team is far from full strength. With a largely inexperienced roster, Pochettino is evaluating the broader player pool to help determine who will remain in the mix leading to World Cup roster decisions next spring.
Pleased with the performance in the opener, Pochettino did not make any lineup changes. That included goalkeeper Matt Freese, who debuted in a June 7 friendly against Turkey and beat out veteran Matt Turner for the Gold Cup opener.
'The opportunity for [Freese] is an opportunity he deserved because he's doing well in his club [New York City FC], and of course, it's to now give some continuity to see how he deals with the pressure to be number one in the national team,' Pochettino said Wednesday.
Through 30 minutes, neither team was able to make its mark. The Americans failed to find a rhythm and surrendered possession too easily. The lone highlight was provided by Richards, who rushed back into the box and make a wonderful sliding block on a shot by free-running Abdulrahman Al-Aboud.
That was one more threat than the Americans manufactured. Late in the half, they were better keeping the ball but didn't have the ideas or service from the flanks to pierce the penalty area.
The pace picked up in the second half. Richards had a golden chance off a corner kick, but his close-range header streaked into goalkeeper Nawaf Al-Aqidi's hands. Still, the match begged for someone to do something special in the run of play.
Pochettino made his first changes in the 62nd minute, inserting veteran midfielder Tyler Adams and newcomer Damion Downs.
On the first action after the substitutions, the goal arrived before an announced crowd of 11,727.
The lead held up without any major scares, improving the U.S. record in Gold Cup group play since 1991 to 42-1-5.
Notes: Forward Haji Wright, who scored late in the opener, was not in uniform because of a left Achilles' tendon issue, a U.S. team spokesman said. The severity was not immediately disclosed. Goalkeeper Chris Brady and defender Nathan Harriel were noninjury scratches. (The match-day roster is limited to 23 players.) …
With a first-place finish, the Americans would play their quarterfinal June 29 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Second place would send them to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on June 28.
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