'We Kind Of Have To Become Hard Asses. Fuck A Friendly' - Chris Richards Is Finally Bringing Some Heart And Competition That US Soccer Desperately Needs

[Source] -  "But I think when it comes to on the field, we kind of have to become hard asses, you know? For too long, we kind of knew we were out playing teams, but we're trying to do it the pretty way. And no, it's not always pretty. So I think making sure that you're able to be nasty when you have to be I think that's something that we kind of try to adapt to our game.

"Excuse my French, but f*** a friendly," Richards added with a laugh. "You gotta go out there and do what you need to do."

I know there's football going on, but I'm talking soccer here for a minute. Plus, it's still relatively slow outside of this Alabama/Mizzou game, so you're not missing much. US had a match last night against Ecuador. I know you'll be shocked to know it was a 1-1 tie. 

You'll also be shocked to know we actually look, dare I say, decent? We looked almost good, even. We didn't have our entire first team there with Christian Pulisic and Antonee Robinson a bit banged up, but it didn't matter. We took Ecuador, who has one of the best defensive sides in the world and outplayed them. 

More importantly we got 2 massive developments. 

1) Flo Balogun is our starting 9 going forward. He scored, again, he is creating chances and he's the guy who is going to win this spot. 

2. We're finally talking about concepts and not guys being bitches out there (Poch's words, basically) 

Most of that goes to Chris Richards, who has solidified himself as one of the few locks on this roster. Look at that quote he had about being hard asses on the field. It's what was always missing with this era of players. We didn't have the old school balls to the wall guys. We didn't have guys who bought into caring about every single match, trying to prove a point and help bring US Soccer to decency. He's right, fuck a friendly. We should be treating every match like it's a World Cup knockout stage game. We get a draw with a top-25 team in the world and looked the part of it. 

We now have Australia (another top-25 team) on Tuesday. In the words of Chris Richards, be hard asses and fuck a friendly. Get a win and prove something.