Episode 24: Chris Richards joins the pod, and a non-Bundesliga Yanks in Europe preview

Chris Richards joins for a conversation from Bavaria, where the
18-yr-old is on loan at Bayern Munich, getting ready for his
first regular season U19 game this weekend. Then Greg and Belz
run down the European-based player pool ahead of the regular
season in the big leagues, and then we take a few Short Corners.




1:23 Richards interview starts. Since the audio is spotty
during parts of the conversation, below are timestamps and
transcriptions of key things he said that were difficult to
hear in the recording.




1:50 Richards on how he found out he was headed to Bayern on
loan: “Towards the end of our (U.S. Development Academy)
playoffs in San Diego, I got a call from the technical
director and he told me that Bayern wanted me to come on loan
until December and initially I was like there’s no way this
is real, but then I got all my final information and was told
to take the next flight to Munich about a week after our last
game in San Diego. As soon as I got here I was immediately
thrown into first-team training, and one day one of the
administrators came up to me and she told me I was going on
the first-team preseason tour to the U.S.”




2:42 on whether he knew he was going to be training with the
Bayern first team at all: “Oh no. They told me I was playing
with the U19s so that’s all I thought I was going to do, just
be with the U19s the whole semester...I was so surprised.”




7:12 on training with Alaba and Martinez: “They were so open
to helping me with everything. That was really great for me
the first few weeks I was here. They’re world class players
of course, and it’s refreshing and it’s also amazing that
they’re willing to help a young guy like me. It's been really
good for me.”




7:38 difference between the Bayern academy and the academies
he played for in the U.S.: “one of the big things that
coaches here like is, when the centerback is on the ball to
take space as fast as you can and then try to release the
ball and keep going further down the field. In the academy
back home it’s not really something that you’re taught, and
when I got here...everyone’s doing it, youth all the way to
the first team, and so that was one thing that they really
pushed for me to get more comfortable doing.”




14:55 what Texans SC coach Eric Quill saw in Richards back in
2015 and 2016: “Of course he noticed my athleticism. I’ve
always been one of the faster (players) and...I’d been able
to get away with my athleticism for a while before learning
the technical aspect as much...and he liked my vision on and
off the ball...I knew where the ball was going, so I was
anticipating really well, and when I was on the ball I was
always one or two steps ahead of the defense.”




20:56 on whether Bayern will release him for U20 World Cup
qualification in November: “I sure hope so. I’m not really
sure what their plan is...but if I get the call-up for the
qualifiers I’m going to push for that as hard as I can,
because that’s a big box that I want to check off.”




24:55 Non-Bundesliga USMNT in Europe preview: Parks, Moore,
Weah, Miazga, Yedlin, Robinson, Carter-Vickers, Saief,
Palmer-Brown, Novakovich, Scott, Amon, Sabbi, Hamid, Gall,
etc.




1:09:35 Short Corners: Busio's first MLS start, Reggie
Cannon's
ascendance, loans to buy, the USYNT hiring freeze.




Brian Sciaretta's interview with Richards from July 17:
http://americansoccernow.com/articles/fc-dallas-homegrown-chris-richards-aiming-high-on-loan-at-bayern-s-u-19s


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