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SEATTLE STADIUM — Mexico and Scotland have their ducks, but the US has its chicken thanks to Chris Richards.
Paxo, a rubber chicken, performed at the WC on Friday in Seattle with Richard’s parents, Ken and Carrie. Paxo found his way to Richards after he picked up the chicken on the pitch after Crystal Palace won the UEFA Conference League last month in Leipzig, Germany.
Richards told me after the USA’s 2-0 win over Australia on Friday that Paxo is now on the World Cup tour.
“I just ran with it and had a few pictures with it in the Conference League trophy,” said a laughing Richards. “And so now it’s like doing the US tour too, right?”
This is not the first time an animal has appeared as a bird mascot for a team at the World Cup, although the other two birds were real. Mexico have embraced Merlin, while Scotland fans also adopted their own duck (named Dawn) as they marched through Providence, Rhode Island.
Chris Richards found Paxo after the UEFA Conference League final in May. (Sebastian Frej/Getty Images)
Have Richards’ USA teammates seen the chicken yet? When I asked defenseman Auston Trusty about it after one of the most famous victories in the U.S. men’s team’s 113-year history, he looked puzzled: “A chicken?” he said. “That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”
Richards laughed again when asked if he would do an introduction at some point. “Not yet,” he said. “We’ll see.”
Chris Richards poses with the UEFA Conference League Trophy with Paxo the chicken. (Photo by Boris Streubel – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Richards did not play in the UEFA Conference League final as he recovered from the ankle injury he sustained on 17 May in a Premier League match against Brentford. He missed Palace’s final game of the season against Arsenal, as well as the USA’s two World Cup fixtures against Senegal and Germany, before returning to the lineup in the tournament opener against Paraguay.
“I was pretty devastated. I feared the worst,” Richards, who missed the 2022 World Cup through injury, said when he arrived at the Stars and Stripes training base in Southern California a few weeks ago.
Now it’s two wins in two WC matches for Richards with Paxo stateside.
Richards is also thriving on the field, leading a USA defense that snapped a streak of 10 games without a clean sheet with a shutout against the Socceroos. After making history by completing all 83 of his pass attempts against Paraguay, he went 91-of-95 against Australia.
Chris Richards with reserve Alex Zendejas after USA’s win over Australia. (Photo by Jane Gershovich/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Richards has now completed 97.8% (175-of-179) of his passes at the World Cup. That’s the second-best accuracy for a player who has attempted at least 100 passes since 1966. The only player with a better percentage was Romania’s Gheorghe Popescu, who was 122-for-124 through two games in 1994, according to OPTA.
Richards and the rest of the USA defense will be especially excited to have finally got the clean sheet.
“A clean sheet sounds good,” goalkeeper Matt Freese said. “Two, three, four clean sheets sounds a lot better.”
Richards’ path to the World Cup is one that has taken him from his native Birmingham, Alabama, to mighty Bayern Munich and Crystal Palace. He was initially rejected by MLS club FC Dallas at the age of 16. He eventually joined FCD’s academy the following year. However, he was only there for a year before joining Bayern and making his pro debut there. He made his first appearance for the United States in November 2020 and has since earned 38 caps for the team.
Now he is the undisputed anchor of the USA backline, which is clearly at its best when he is in the lineup.
“He has a presence on the field,” said American teammate and fellow defender Mark McKenzie, while veteran winger Tim Weah called Richards “one of the most important players on the team.”
