After defeating Saudi Arabia 1-0 in Austin on Thursday, the United States men’s national team have advanced to the knockout stage of the Gold Cup. They stopped the Saudi Arabia attack from having chances at Matt Freese’s net, and Chris Richards continued his excellent season by scoring a goal from a set play, which is only his second ever for the USMNT.
Assisted by Sebastian Berhalter, the son of former USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter, Richards was involved at both ends of the pitch during an excellent performance. The USMNT will have wanted more goals, but when the objective is to advance, they’ve done just that, and most importantly, they didn’t concede.
As long as the United States don’t lose to Haiti on Sunday, they’ll be assured to win the group, but even if they do, Saudi Arabia will have to overcome a difference of six goals to win the group.
The USMNT held Saudi Arabia to only three shots in the entire match, and only one of those tested Matt Freese in net. The United States were also efficient with their chances to defeat the toughest team in the group. Now, with the USMNT set for knockouts after their last group game, coach Mauricio Pochettino can rotate the squad, especially since striker Haji Wright missed the match with an injury and Damion Downs also had to be withdrawn after making his debut for the national team.
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Looking forward
Richards is already someone who would be looked at to anchor the defense in 2026 for the World Cup, but performances like this one show how much he has grown. Coming off a season where he won the FA Cup to qualify for the Europa League with Crystal Palace, he had critical defensive interventions, put two shots on target, and also scored to push the USMNT through.
The adjustments that he and the national team made after a poor first half of play went a long way to ensuring that they got the result, and he’s someone who has improved his stock despite it already being high coming in.
The midfield will still have work to do, but despite them not having a shining performance, they also didn’t do anything to lose the game for the team, which is also important in these competitions. It’s not always pretty, but as long as the results come, things are going in the right direction as there is now some momentum for a side that truly lacked it just over a week ago.