USMNT's Chris Richards on track for World Cup opener after ankle injury: 'Whatever it takes'

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IRVINE, Calif. — When Chris Richards felt an opponent’s foot crash into his left ankle last month, pain mixed with fear.

The World Cup was less than a month away, and for the U.S. national team’s most important defender, thoughts of missing soccer’s spectacle for the second consecutive quadrennial rushed into his mind.

“I was pretty devastated, and I was honestly feeling the worst, but I kind of forced myself back on the pitch to prove to myself that it was doable,” Richards said Wednesday, 48 hours before the Group D opener at SoFi Stadium. “Once I finally got the diagnosis, it was all right, ‘How do I get ready for this game against Paraguay?’”

Richards’ recovery prevented him from playing in the final tuneups against Senegal and Germany, leaving him without any competitive minutes since that May 17 incident in Crystal Palace’s penultimate Premier League match against Brentford.

But after returning to full-time training this week, Richards seems on course to start the opener and provide much-needed fortification for a defense without high-level depth. The U.S. has conceded 11 goals in the past four matches, including one that included Richards in the lineup.

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Since coach Mauricio Pochettino’s arrival in the fall of 2024, Richards has been a consistent starter and one of the team leaders.

Conceding his ankle might be a “little swollen,” Richards said, “I’m ready. I mean, it’s World Cup, so I’m going to make myself ready, regardless. … If there’s any time to sacrifice yourself, it’s now. And I know I want to play when it comes to Friday, but I’m not the one making decisions.”

Pochettino is expected to address Richards’ status at his next news conference Thursday. He won’t reveal the starting lineup until about 75 minutes before the match.

Chris Richards of the United States reacts prior to the international friendly match between United States and Germany at Soldier Field on June 06, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois.

(Omar Vega/USSF via Getty Images)

With a week between the first two matches, Richards said starting Friday isn’t “going to put the rest of the tournament in jeopardy.”

If cleared to start, Richards would probably join captain Tim Ream and Alex Freeman on the backline, with Antonee Robinson and Sergiño Dest as the wing backs.

In Richards’ absence for the friendlies, Mark McKenzie and Miles Robinson alternated in the center of the three-man alignment. Auston Trusty is the other center back on the 26-man roster.

Had the U.S. staff determined Richards wouldn’t have been available – or effective enough to remain on the roster – it would have until 24 hours before the opener to make a change.

“I’ve done full practices the last few days, and I think y’all have seen the intensity of our practices; they’re not light,” the Alabama native said. “I feel good, and no reaction to it.”

Richards’ injury sidelined him for Crystal Palace’s Premier League finale against Arsenal and the UEFA Conference League final against Spain’s Rayo Vallecano. His club coach, Oliver Glasner, said Richards tore two ligaments, though the extent of the tears was never disclosed.

“After the game, my ankle was huge, and came off in a boot and crutches,” he said. “Once I got the diagnosis, I was like, ‘All right, cool, whatever it takes, I have to make it for this first game.’”

He then reported to U.S. camp in the Atlanta area for evaluation, rehabilitation and light individual workouts.

Before the Germany friendly, Pochettino suggested there had been a miscommunication between Crystal Palace and the U.S. staff about Richards’ timetable and that he had anticipated the player would probably be available for the last test.

“I got a little annoyed,” Pochettino said last week.

On Wednesday, Richards said, “It took about as long as I expected. The initial diagnosis was day to day, but I think for me I was aiming more at the two to three weeks. We’re right on schedule, and I feel good right now.”

The first time he realized he could be 100 percent for the World Cup was last week.

“It was a lot of massages, a lot of ice, a lot of compression,” he said. “But once I was finally on the pitch, it felt good. That was the main thing. I can play with pain as long as functionally I’m good.”

In 2022, a long-term hamstring injury sidelined him for much of the run-up to the World Cup in Qatar and forced him to withdraw from consideration.

He said missing that tournament helped motivate him even more to get ready for this one.

“But also it’s a World Cup on home soil,” he said. “Any World Cup would mean the world to me, but especially being able to play in front of America, and that’s my No. 1 thing. I knew I had to do whatever it took to be here.”

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