CHICAGO — As the World Cup approaches, uncertainty looms over Chris Richards’ participation in what is poised to be a historic event for U.S. soccer.
Richards is currently sidelined due to an ankle injury and will not be available for Saturday’s game against Germany in Chicago, according to USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino.
This match serves as the final preparation for the U.S. team before their World Cup opener against Paraguay on June 12, a game that will capture the attention of soccer enthusiasts nationwide.
“He’s training today, and his progress is promising, but he’s not yet ready to compete,” Pochettino stated. “We’ll have the chance to evaluate him further after the game in the coming days and decide based on his recovery status.”
Speaking in Spanish, Pochettino mentioned that Richards’ recovery timeline has extended beyond initial expectations when the team roster was announced.
“When we decided the roster, we thought that Chris could play in the final of the Conference [League, on May 27] because we designed the roster previously,” Pochettino said. “There was a line of information when we were thinking that he could play that final against Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League. He was on the bench, he was on the bench of subs.
“After that, he could maybe be [there] against Senegal. After, today, in the end, the timelines were lengthening and it angers me a bit. I’m not happy. Because we know Chris Richards is an important player, of course we all know it, but also when I was saying based on the information that we used, sometimes there wasn’t clarity.
“In the end, we hope that Chris can be there. But in the end, we’re gonna find ourselves who’s coming without competing [for a month] and after, we have to make a decision if he’s in form or not. And there’s not a lot of time in the World Cup.
“… The information wasn’t the information that we should use to make the best decision.”
Though FIFA’s deadline to submit rosters for the World Cup has already passed, injury replacements are allowed for up to 24 hours before the first match.
In reality, though, there’s no replacing what Richards brings at a position where the USMNT has little depth.
Against Senegal last weekend, without Richards, Pochettino went with a back three of Tim Ream, Mark McKenzie and Alex Freeman from left to right.