Premier League star was cut at 16 and overcame devastation to realize World Cup dream with USA

Chris Richards was cut by a soccer team he is now too good for.

The most important defender on the United States Men’s National Team also watched his family lose its business during a global financial meltdown. 

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Richards has risen from SEC football country to World Cup

Outside doubt and personal setbacks are nothing new for Richards, who completed his first practice with USMNT days before a 2026 World Cup opener vs Paraguay on Friday at Los Angeles Stadium.

The Crystal Palace center back’s summer dream is also bigger than lifting a golden trophy in the USA.

“My goal in life is to be the reason why somebody picks up a soccer ball,” Richards exclusively told talkSPORT in March at the 2026 Champions of Marketing event in London.

“If us as a collective, if we’re able to give good enough performances — performances that make America proud but also performances that allow a kid to pick up a soccer ball one day — then it’s a successful one.”

After years of planning and a 2022 World Cup in Qatar that Richards missed due to a leg injury, the breakthrough moment is almost here for a 6ft 3in and 188lb defender who was cut during a trial for FC Dallas‘ academy.

That brutal decision has never left Richards’ mind.

“It was devastating for a 16-year-old’s ego, for their confidence — it was tough,” Richard said.

“But that’s actually what opened the door for me to go to Houston and allowed me to show myself, and allowed me to show, I guess, this sense of maturity that I didn’t even know I had. But it drove me — it definitely drove me.”

Pochettino counting on Richards to lead defense

Almost a decade later, Richards is healing from an ankle injury while preparing to lead Mauricio Pochettino‘s USMNT squad in an expanded World Cup that will bounce from Mexico and Canada to Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Boston and Los Angeles.

“It’s massive for him as a footballer,” Michael Yormark, president of Roc Nation Sports, exclusively told talkSPORT.

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“It’s massive for him as a brand and a personality. I’m super proud of him. … We knew he’d be successful. But especially over the last two years, the growth has been absolutely incredible.

“He’s very passionate about the sport. He’s very grateful for the opportunity that he has. The journey has not been an easy one, you know what I mean? And I think that’s why the fire inside of Chris continues to burn, because a lot of people would say he shouldn’t even be here, right?”

Richards has evolved into one of the best all-around players on a USMNT squad featuring Christian Pulisic (AC Milan), Tyler Adams (AFC Bournemouth), Weston McKennie (Juventus) and Folarin Balogun (Monaco).

He loves London life, knows that a good weather day is when it doesn’t rain, and was constantly praised by Yormark while sitting next to the Roc Nation president on stage inside an upscale hotel in Mayfair.

Richards wants to give back to family who backed him

“It’s important to broaden my horizons but also to bring awareness,” said Richards, explaining his growing interest in the business side of the sports world.

“We are a global sport, a global name. And for me, personally, I want something to last longer than my career. I want to always be remembered. And so if I can get my foot into as many doors as possible, but also be remembered after all this is said and done, then that’s beautiful.”

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But Richards is also a kid from Birmingham, Alabama who started playing soccer at 4, learned the sport with the Hoover Soccer Club, then watched his family be forever changed by the 2008 stock market crash.

“We lost our business,” Richards said. “We had a lot of setbacks in that time. But my parents never stopped providing for me and my siblings, to make sure that we always were able to do everything we wanted to do.”

There are a variety of life paths from youth pitches and childhood dreams to becoming a Premier League player and earning a spot in the biggest World Cup in history.

Richards’ is one of the most unique (Texans SC Houston, Bayern Munich U-19, Hoffenheim) and the 2025 US Soccer Male Player of the Year has become the strongest example of what the sport can become in the USA.

FA Cup and Conference League trophies for USMNT star

“It’s a bit cliché — you get knocked down, you keep getting up,” said the 26-year-old Richards, who’s won the FA Cup and UEFA Conference League with Crystal Palace in back-to-back seasons.

“That’s exactly the mentality that I had. And every time I’ve faced a setback in my career, I’ve kind of always looked back to the 16-year-old Chris who didn’t make it to FC Dallas. Just the same mentality — just keep going.”

Part of that internal drive stems from Richards’ desire to pay back the parents who always backed him during his youth.

“It’s a great story because Chris is successful at the top league in the world now, and no one would have thought that (about) a kid growing up in Alabama,” Tab Ramos, a starting midfielder on the 1994 USMNT squad, exclusively told talkSPORT.

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“But I think this is the strength of where soccer is going in this country now, that we have MLS clubs who are recruiting all over the country and finding kids.”

The proud Palace defender wasn’t born when Alexi Lalas and Co. lifted American soccer to a new platform in the 1994 World Cup.

Days away from a follow-up World Cup that has been three decades in the making, Richards wants his USMNT crew to create something even bigger — in the USA and the world.

“Success for us is leaving a legacy,” he said.

“When you think about the last World Cup that was played in the US, it birthed the MLS. Maybe it’s the reason why my dad allowed me to pick up a soccer ball or why my mom allowed me to pick up a soccer ball when I was younger.”

All 104 games at the 2026 World Cup this summer will be live on talkSPORT, talkSPORT 2 and the talkSPORT app.

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