Chris Richards bails out USMNT at both ends in win over Saudi Arabia

Chris Richards scored in the 63rd minute of the United States' 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia on Thursday night in Austin. (Omar Vega/Getty Images)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.