Richards started and played the full 90 minutes in Gregg Berhalter's backline as the United States played out a 1-1 draw with No. 5-ranked Brazil in their final pre-Copa América friendly. The Americans had a poor record against Brazil heading into the match, but delivered a heroic performance on home soil.
Rodrygo and Christian Pulisic traded first-half goals, while both teams' goalkeepers played crucial roles in the match. Matt Turner made 11 saves for the USMNT while Alisson finished with six for Brazil.
The 24-year-old Richards rarely put a foot wrong in the match, making two interceptions, three defensive recoveries, and completing 89% of his passes (40/45). He also made a key tackle on Rodrygo in the 53rd minute before the Real Madrid man raced towards goal on a breakaway.
Following the match, Richards said: "Of course, we were upset and even a little bit embarrassed about the performance against Colombia, but the good thing was that we were able to run it back on Wednesday and I think we did that well today.
"I hope we can take this momentum into the Copa America and earn some important results.
"I think we are headed into the tournament with confidence. Anytime you can compete with a team like Brazil, I think that you can compete with a lot of the other teams in the Copa.
"We're not only going to take the positives from the match, but we also have some negatives that we want to clean up."