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SEATTLE STADIUM — Mexico and Scotland have their ducks, but the United States has its chicken, thanks to Chris Richards.
Paxo, a rubber chicken, made an appearance at the World Cup Friday in Seattle with Richards’ parents, Ken and Carrie. Paxo found his way to Richards after picking up the chicken on the pitch after Crystal Palace won the UEFA Conference League last month in Leipzig, Germany.
Richards told me after the United States’ 2-0 victory over Australia on Friday that Paxo was now heading to the World Cup.
“I just ran around with it and took a few pictures with it at the Conference League Trophy,” Richards said with a laugh. “And now he’s also touring the United States, right?”
This is not the first time an animal has appeared as an avian mascot for a team at the World Cup, although the other two birds were real. Mexico adopted Merlin, while Scottish fans also adopted their own duck (named Dawn) during a march in Providence, Rhode Island.
Chris Richards reunited with Paxo after the UEFA Conference League final in May. (Sébastien Frej/Getty Images)
Have Richards’ American teammates ever seen the chicken? When I asked defender Auston Trusty about it after one of the most famous victories in the 113-year history of the U.S. men’s team, he seemed perplexed: “A chicken?” he said. “This is the first time 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 posing with the UEFA Conference League Trophy, alongside Paxo the chicken. (Photo by Boris Streubel – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Richards did not feature in this UEFA Conference League final as he recovered from an ankle injury he suffered on 17 May during a Premier League match against Brentford. He missed Palace’s final match of the season against Arsenal, as well as the United States’ two World Cup warm-up matches against Senegal and Germany before returning to the lineup in the tournament’s opening match against Paraguay.
“I was pretty devastated. I feared the worst,” Richards, who missed the 2022 World Cup due to injury, said upon arriving at the Stars and Stripes’ training base in Southern California a few weeks ago.
That now makes it two wins in two World Cup matches for Richards with Paxo in the United States.
Richards is also thriving on the pitch, leading a U.S. defense that ended a 10-game clean streak with a shutout against the Socceroos. After making history by completing 83 pass attempts against Paraguay, he completed 91 of 95 against Australia.
Chris Richards and reserve Alex Zendejas after the United States’ victory 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. This is the second-best accuracy for a player attempting at least 100 passes since 1966. The only player with a better percentage was Romania’s Gheorghe Popescu, who had a score of 122 out of 124 in two matches in 1994, according to OPTA.
Richards and the rest of the US defense will be particularly pleased to have finally secured a clean sheet.
“A clean sheet sounds good,” goalkeeper Matt Freese said. “Two, three, four blank sheets of paper sound much better.”
Richards’ journey to the World Cup took him from his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, to powerhouse Bayern Munich and Crystal Palace. He was initially rejected by MLS club FC Dallas at the age of 16. He eventually joined the FCD academy the following year. He only stayed there for a year before joining Bayern and making his professional debut. He made his first appearance for the United States in November 2020 and has since earned 38 caps for the team.
He is now the undisputed pillar of the American backline, which is clearly at its best when he is in the lineup.
“He has a presence on the pitch,” said teammate and U.S. defender Mark McKenzie, while veteran winger Tim Weah called Richards “one of the most important players on the team.”
