Micah Richards

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Micah Richards : biography

24 June 1988 –

Micah Lincoln Richards (born 24 June 1988) is an English footballer who plays for Manchester City. A powerful right back, on making his full England debut in November 2006, he was the youngest defender ever to be called up to the England squad. Richards has won 13 caps for England and played in the Great Britain squad for the 2012 Olympic football tournament.

International career

England

In November 2006, Richards received a call-up to the England squad for a friendly against the Netherlands after playing only 28 professional club matches. He had previously won three caps for the England under-21 team, and was chosen to start the game on 15 November 2006 against the Netherlands after regular right back Gary Neville withdrew through injury. It made him England’s youngest-ever defender, breaking the record previously held by Rio Ferdinand. He scored his first international goal in the Euro 2008 qualifier against Israel on 8 September 2007 at Wembley Stadium. Richards played regularly during Steve McClaren’s time as England manager, making 11 appearances. However, following McClaren’s sacking in November 2007, Richards fell out of favour. In Fabio Capello’s four years in charge of the England team, Richards played only once, as a substitute against France in November 2010. Upon Capello’s resignation in February 2012, Richards spoke of his frustration: "To be frozen out of your international side is hard to take sometimes. Everyone wants to play for their international team, especially when you’re playing in a team that’s doing so well. I didn’t get a chance under Capello. I don’t know why. I always asked the question, but I never got an answer."

2009 European Under-21 Championships

For most of his exile from the senior team, Richards was still young enough to be eligible for the under-21s, and played regularly. He was called up for the UEFA Under-21 Championship held in Sweden, where he scored the winning goal against Finland as England went through the group stages undefeated. England reached the final of the competition, but lost 4–0 to Germany. Richards played in four of England’s five matches, including the final. During qualifying for the 2011 tournament, Richards captained the side. However, he had to withdraw from the squad for the finals due to injury.

After Capello

Following Capello’s resignation in February 2012, Richards gained an immediate recall to the England team. Caretaker coach Stuart Pearce had coached Richards at both Manchester City and for the under-21s, and selected him to play against the Netherlands. However, when new coach Roy Hodgson named his squad for Euro 2012, Richards was omitted. Hodgson explained his decision by saying "It was going to be one of Phil Jones or Micah Richards and I chose Jones." It has been further revealed that Richards refused the chance to be on the standby list for the tournament, which resulted in his exclusion from any other possible replacements for injured players.

Great Britain Olympic football team

On 28 June 2012, Richards was confirmed as one of the three over-aged players selected for Great Britain to compete at 2012 Summer Olympics alongside Craig Bellamy and Ryan Giggs by manager Stuart Pearce. In his first match for Great Britain, a friendly against Brazil, he brought down Hulk in the box and gave away a penalty which Neymar converted.

International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 8 September 2007 Wembley Stadium, London, England Israel}} 2 – 0 3–0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

Honours

Manchester City
  • Premier League: 2011–12
  • FA Cup: 2010–11

Club career

Early career

Though his parents lived in Leeds, Richards was born in Birmingham as his parents were visiting relatives in the area at the time., p29 Richards grew up in the Chapeltown district of Leeds, where he attended Archbishop Cranmer CofE Primary School and later Wetherby High School. He was an Arsenal supporter growing up.