USMNT's Chris Richards, Matt Turner win FA Cup title as Crystal Palace stun Manchester City 1-0

U.S. international Chris Richards started and played all 90 minutes as Crystal Palace lifted their first FA Cup in club history on Saturday, defeating Manchester City 1-0 in the final of the 2024/25 competition. A first half goal from England international Eberechi Eze proved to be the difference, while goalkeeper Dean Henderson made an emphatic save on a penalty kick attempt from Egyptian attacker Omar Marmoush as well.

25-year-old Richards played a fantastic match, keeping City's star-studded attack - including Erling Haaland - goalless all evening.

Fellow USMNT regular, Matt Turner, was named to the bench as the backup goalkeeper for the affair for Palace.

Richards and Turner became the second and third USMNT players to lift the coveted English trophy, following in the footsteps of legendary goalkeeper Tim Howard - who won the competition with Manchester United in 2004.

Richards helped Palace keep a clean sheet across all 90 minutes, putting in a blistering performance as the right central defender in a back-five system. He completed 82 percent of his passes while registering 40 touches on the ball. He completed five passes into the final-third of the pitch, while defensively, he made four blocks and recorded 12 clearances.

Seven of the 12 were headed clearances, while he also made two defensive recoveries as well.

He won four of five aerial duels, and one of two ground duels.

Turner and Richards joined Howard as Americans to play in the FA Cup final, but previously, both John Harkes and Christian Pulisic had featured in the finale of the competition as well. Pulisic, in fact, was a runner-up for three straight seasons with Chelsea and even scored in their 2020 final defeat to Arsenal. However, only Howard had lifted the trophy prior to Saturday.

Palace will celebrate their FA Cup title over the course of the weekend and into next week before they wrap up their Premier League campaign with two remaining matches against Wolverhampton and Liverpool.

Richards and Turner, meanwhile, will look to see their names announced on the USMNT roster for the CONCACAF Gold Cup this summer. Mauricio Pochettino's roster is set to drop before the end of May.