A frustrated Mauricio Pochettino claimed Chris Richards’ World Cup prospects hang in the balance as he battles an ankle injury – but the defender later insisted he will be ready for the USA’s opening game.
Pochettino confirmed on Friday that Richards – a key member of his backline – will miss the USMNT’s final World Cup friendly against Germany and said a ‘decision’ will have to be made on the Crystal Palace star in the coming days.
The USA’s first World Cup game is against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium on June 12. By then, Richards will have missed nearly a month of action after hurting his ankle in Crystal Palace’s penultimate Premier League game.
But there were signs of encouragement on Friday, when Richards joined his teammates for the open portion of practice before telling Sports Illustrated he ‘feels good’ and will be ready to face Paraguay.
Since damaging his ankle on May 17, the defender – who missed the 2022 World Cup due to injury – has sat out Palace’s Europa Conference League final win and the USA’s warm-up game against Senegal.
Pochettino said he is ‘not happy’ with the information he received about Richards’ recovery before naming his 26-man roster. ‘When we decided on the squad list, we thought he could play in the Conference League final and that’s how we built the roster,’ Pochettino said.
Chris Richards’ World Cup prospects hang in the balance as he recovers from an ankle injury
Mauricio Pochettino said he is ‘not happy’ with the information he received about the injury
Richards, a key defender for the USA, hurt his ankle during a Premier League game at Brentford
‘At the time, the information we had suggested that he might be able to play in that final against Rayo Vallecano. In fact, he was on the bench, among the substitutes. Then we thought he might perhaps be available against Senegal, as well. But in the end, the timelines kept getting pushed back, and that frustrates me a bit.
‘I’m not happy about it, because we know he’s an important player, of course we all know that. But when I talk about the information we were working with, sometimes there isn’t much clarity in the end.
‘We can keep waiting and hoping that Chris will be available, but as you said, we may end up with a player who arrives [at the World Cup] without having competed. Then we have to decide whether he’s fit enough to compete or not, and there isn’t much time during the World Cup.’
Pochettino added: ‘Perhaps the information we had wasn’t the information we should have been relying on to make the best decisions. We don’t want to find ourselves in a situation where we reach the second match and the player isn’t available.’
Teams can still make changes to their World Cup roster – in the event of an injury – up until 24 hours before their first game. That gives Richards less than a week to prove he is ready.
‘Maybe if tomorrow was the final of the World Cup he could play, but the advice of the medical team was to not play,’ Pochettino said. ‘He’s not ready to compete and to play… in the next few days we have the possibility to assess him and his ankle, then to make a decision.’
A few hours later, Richards told Sports Illustrated: ‘When I first got into camp after two long days of travel, I had a bit of a swollen ankle, but I’ve been doing treatment almost 24 hours [per day], so I feel really good, and I’m getting ready for the opener a week from today. I’m really looking forward to it.’
