Chris Richards, another one of the promising talents from the US Men’s National Team (USMNT), made his first start with Bayern Munich against Hertha Berlin on Matchday 3 in the Bundesliga.
Prior to joining the reigning German champs in 2018, he played with the Texans in Houston, TX and later joined the FC Dallas Academy in 2017 as a 17 year-old. He’d do great with the club as he was promoted to FC Dallas as a Homegrown Player on April 12, 2017. Later on in May, he received a 10-day trial with Bayern Munich as the German side had an agreement with FC Dallas to do so. Richards definitely made the most of it as he was then given a year-long loan to stay at Bayern Munich.
As a loanee to the club, as expected, Richards didn’t get much playing time with the senior team. However, he did play several minutes in the International Champions Cup matches in the summer, only being 18 in these matches. As the season progressed, he’d get ample playing time with the Bayern U19 squad. His performance convinced Bayern to buy him permanently on a four-and-a-half-year contract from FC Dallas. He consistently played for Bayern II in 3. Liga, and in the 2019-20 season, he made the jump from Bayern II to getting a shot at first-team football at the end of the season, making his first Bundesliga appearance against SC Freiburg.
As the 2020-21 Bundesliga campaign has just started, Richards looks to be on the verge of getting regular minutes with the first team. He was on the squad list for all of Bayern’s first five matches in the 2020-21 season. He made appearances for Bayern’s first team in their 8-0 thrashing of Schalke and their 3-2 DFL-Supercup victory against Borussia Dortmund. However, he didn’t get his first start until the game on October 4, 2020 against Hertha Berlin.
Hertha Berlin is a solid, mid-table Bundesliga club who have a solid group of attackers, composed of players like Matheus Cunha, Krzysztof Piatek, Jhon Cordoba; a tough task for the American U-20 player to make his first start against. On top of that, he started the match at right back, with his normal position being center back.
He started the match with short, quick passes and got up the pitch, being all over the right flank. Richards’ play at RB was amazing, especially since this wasn’t his normal position. His passing was on point, as he completed 90% of his passes and had three key passes. He also played three amazing crosses into the box; one was to Thomas Muller which was called off as Muller’s foot kept him offside, the other two were to Robert Lewandowski, who scored one off of a smooth turn (giving Richards his first ever assist in first-team competition) and another chance which was cleared by an great save from Alexander Schwolow.
However, Richards struggled in winning the ball, winning only 20% (1/5) duels in the match and 25% (1/4) aerial duels. He still managed to keep the ball secure, only being dispossessed once in the entire match, while also having a great clearance on a corner kick, preventing what could’ve been a great opportunity for Hertha BSC. Unfortunately for Richards, he suffered a cramp in the 62nd minute of the match, and was substituted off for Benjamin Pavard in the 65th minute.
Overall, this was an amazing debut start for Chris Richards. Playing against an attack-minded Bundesliga side in an alternate position, and even managing to get an assist, has to be great for the 20-year-old. However, he still has a lot of room to grow when it comes to his physicality in the defensive end, but that will develop, as Bayern seem to have a lot of faith in him. We hope that his cramp isn’t too serious, and hopefully Richards can use this international break to recover and develop so that he can eventually start for Bayern.
The Crossover 