Richards reveals teammate's advice which settled him in South London

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4 hours ago

Chris Richards is these days a mainstay in both Crystal Palace and the United States’ starting XI – but the centre-back was full of praise for former captain Joel Ward’s guidance towards attaining that status.

The 26-year-old arrived in South London from Bayern Munich in the summer of 2022 but took time to establish himself as a consistent first-choice pick for the Eagles, initially featuring just nine times in his inaugural Premier League season.

In the last two seasons, however, Richards has been a first-choice pick at centre-back, playing every minute of Palace’s successful FA Cup run last season – and starting 10 of our 12 UEFA Conference League matches this time around.

But to get to that point demanded initial patience, and the assistance of Ward as a leader at Palace.

"I think as a 22-year-old who came from a big club like Bayern, you're thinking, ‘alright, cool, I'm gonna get here, I'm gonna play’,” Richards recently recalled of his arrival, speaking to CBS Sports.

"I feel like I was doing everything right and so [Ward] pulled me to the side a few times, like: 'Everybody sees you doing the right thing. Just keep doing the right thing so that when your time does come, you're ready for it.’

“He wasn't even really playing at the time but he knew what his spot and what his role was in the club, and he did it perfectly.”

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I want to continue to establish myself as a leader, kind of like what Joel Ward did for me
—Chris Richards

Those reassuring words helped inspire the growth Richards has enjoyed for club and country in recent years, with the defender saying he took inspiration from the then-Palace captain.

Richards added: "I want to continue to establish myself as a leader, kind of like what Joel Ward did for me.

“I think understanding that maybe there's going to be people who are going to be upset with how many minutes they play, with how training goes… but I think being able to pull somebody and have this conversation with them, knowing that [they're] having a tough tme, it's something that I really want to do for the team because it makes us stronger.

“You never know if you're going to play 90 minutes, you're going to come on to play two minutes, but every minute that you play is going to count, especially [for the USA] at a World Cup, so like I said… I'm making everybody feel welcome but also making everybody feel like they're bought into this culture."

Nowadays, Richards is one of the first names on the teamsheet for both Palace and the USA, playing in the back three – a role he relishes.

"I love it," he told CBS. "I think even for us defenders, it's a chance for us to be aggressive. When you're so far off the pitch, it's your time to smash into somebody and you win the ball up that high and then it really is a counter-attack within 20 yards of goals. I really enjoy it. I really do.

"I think there's a lot of emphasis on ball-playing center backs but for me, my first role is to defend. "Of course, I want to be able to play with the ball. I feel like I do pretty well but I think being able to usually defend and kind of completely eliminate the other team's best attacking threat, that makes me happier than anything.

"Now, I think to be a central defender, you have to be a little sick in the head, to be honest with you! You have to want to head the ball. You have to want to crunch people and pretty much, your job is that once you get the ball, to give to the people who go make the magic happen.

"For me, my favourite thing in the world is to have like a crazy crunch tackle and everybody goes wild so I'd rather do that than score a goal. That's my job and I love it."

Now a settled South Londoner himself, Richards also recalled how much last season’s trophy-winning successes meant to him and the people around him.

He smiled: "One thing about South London is that it's a bunch of hardworking people but also a lot of blue collar people, and so now, whether I'm in a taxi, a lot of the taxi drivers are Crystal Palace fans and they're always like: 'Thank you for everything that you've done for the club.’

“Being able to bring a club and bring a community something that they hadn't achieved in over a hundred years, I think it's hard to really comprehend it because I'd never seen something like that.

“To understand, I guess, the gravity of what we did, seeing the final whistle and seeing all the emotions from fans, from employees who have been at the club forever from people on social media, from taxi drivers, it was just… it was beautiful to see, and I still see it.

“Even yesterday in the park, I was walking and a guy pulled me and was like: 'Thank you for everything that you've done for Crystal Palace.' For me, of course I loved winning a trophy, but it was so much more than winning a trophy. It was giving back to the community that had never won something so I think it was amazing.

“ It was beautiful. It was every possible positive word you could say, that's what it was."

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