Alabama has a horse in the biggest soccer game the country has played in a generation.

Tonight, Hoover native Chris Richards starts in the last line of defense as the United States faces Belgium in the World Cup Round of 16 — a win-or-go-home match at Lumen Field in Seattle that could send the co-host nation to the quarterfinals for the first time in 24 years.

Kickoff is 7:00 p.m. CST on FOX and Telemundo.

Richards’ path to center stage started in Hoover, where he played from U5 through U14 with the Hoover Soccer Club and won two Alabama state championships before the family relocated to Texas and he joined the FC Dallas academy. He made his professional debut with Bayern Munich in 2019 and now anchors the back line for English Premier League side Crystal Palace, helping the Eagles win the 2025 FA Cup and reach this year’s UEFA Conference League final.

He’s not just a roster footnote for the state, either. Richards is the first player from Alabama to captain the USMNT, a distinction he earned in a 2024 match against New Zealand, and he was named the 2025 U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year. He’s the second Alabamian ever to make a U.S. World Cup roster, joining 2014 alum Aron Johannsson — and last year he joined the ownership group of USL side Birmingham Legion FC, staying invested in the game back home even as his club career has taken off overseas.

The wildest part perhaps is that it almost all ended in this tournament before it began.

Richards nearly missed the World Cup entirely because he tore two ligaments in his left ankle on May 17 in a Premier League match for Crystal Palace, an injury that cost him a chunk of the season. With less than four weeks to get healthy, he battled back into the USMNT’s lineup for the World Cup opener against Paraguay — and delivered a performance for the history books, completing all 83 of his passes, the most passes with 100% accuracy by any player in a World Cup match since 1966, in a 4-1 win.

He hasn’t slowed down since. Richards logged a team-high seven clearances in the group-stage win over Australia and has started every match of the tournament, helping the U.S. cruise through group play and beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 in the Round of 32 to set up tonight’s date with Belgium.

What Alabama is watching for tonight

Belgium brings a roster loaded with experience — Kevin De Bruyne, Jeremy Doku, Thibaut Courtois and Romelu Lukaku off the bench — and enters as a narrow betting favorite.

The match also carries some late drama: Folarin Balogun’s one-game suspension from his red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina was unexpectedly lifted by FIFA, making the USMNT’s leading scorer available tonight, a decision Belgium has reportedly appealed at the last minute.

Through all of it, Richards has been the constant. A defense that looked shaky without him during pre-tournament friendlies has tightened up considerably with him back on the field — and if the U.S. wants its first trip to a World Cup quarterfinal since 2002, it will likely need another big night from its Hoover-born center back.