Chris Richards will not play in the United States’ final World Cup tune-up against Germany, and the defender’s status for the tournament is now in doubt after an ankle injury slowed his return to full fitness.
Mauricio Pochettino said Friday that Richards is still not ready to compete and play, leaving the U.S. without one of its key defenders with the World Cup group stage opener against Paraguay coming on 12 June. The coach said the staff will look at Richards’ ankle again in the next few days before deciding whether he can be added back into the mix.
That uncertainty has built over the past week. Richards was unavailable for the United States’ 3-2 win over Senegal last weekend, and on Wednesday he worked separately on a second field at the National Training Center with two trainers, doing resistance band work and lateral-motion exercises rather than joining the full session. He had already spent time rehabbing by himself in pre-World Cup camp after suffering the ankle injury in Crystal Palace’s second-to-last Premier League match of the season against Brentford.
Oliver Glasner had said Richards tore ligaments in the ankle, and the defender missed Crystal Palace’s league finale against Arsenal as well as the Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano. Pochettino said there had been a line of information suggesting Richards might be available for that final, but the timeline has stretched since then. “In the end, the timelines [are] lengthening and [it] angers me a bit,” he said, adding that he is “not happy” because Richards is an important player.
The frustration is not only about one match. Pochettino said the team will not risk any player who is not fully fit, and that only players who start or come off the bench are healthy and 100% ready. He also noted that his 26-man roster includes five center-backs and a couple of wide defenders who can fill in centrally, a sign that the U.S. has already had to plan around Richards’ uncertainty. Mark McKenzie handled the middle of the back line against Senegal, and the setup may have to hold if Richards does not recover in time.
What happens next is straightforward and urgent: the U.S. staff will reassess the ankle in the next few days, and that check may determine whether Richards can still make the World Cup stage at all. With 12 June approaching fast, there is not much room left for the defender to turn a cautious recovery into a race won in time.
