On Tuesday evening, Chris Richards wore the United States' captain's armband for the fourth time, as he guided his nation to a clean sheet which made it four wins out of four from the September-October international window.
Mauricio Pochettino's team were once again the victors, with a 1-0 win over Canada at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minnesota – Justin Ellis' first-half goal the settler.
It was a fiery friendly to finish off with as some 43 fouls were committed between the two teams, with little by way of efforts on goal – Richards doing the job of shutting out the opposition throughout the 90 minutes. Zavier Gozo was an unused substitute on the night.
It followed an eventful international window for Richards, who helped the Stars and Stripes to an impressive 3-0 win over Mexico at State Farm Stadium in Arizona in the small hours of Sunday morning.
The Palace defender played the full 90 minutes and kept a clean sheet against a Mexico side who finished the game with 10 men, but were rarely able to fashion a chance against Mauricio Pochettino's steely defence.
Richards had made his mark at the other end of the pitch earlier in the week.
in action against Chile in the small hours of Wednesday evening – and Darío Osorio, who started on the occasion of his 27th international cap – the USA were hoping to build on an impressive international break thus far.
Richards began on the bench at Energizer Park in St. Louis, Missouri, and after the hosts had gone in front shortly before half-time through Seb Berhalter, Chile responded with two quickfire goals either side of the break.
In an end-to-end contest, the USA equalised just two minutes later through Julian Hall – before Richards entered the fray on 63 minutes and, less than 10 minutes later, scored his fourth international goal, powering home a header from Berhalter's corner-kick delivery.
Richards' goal can be seen at 03:21 in the video below.
