FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. – U.S. men’s national team defender Chris Richards will not be involved in the group’s pre-World Cup friendly against Senegal on Sunday, the team now sweating over an ankle injury that could impact a key player’s availability with the tournament opener just 14 days away.Richards sustained an ankle injury in Crystal Palace’s draw at Brentford on May 17, ruling him out of the club’s Premier League finale against Arsenal and the UEFA Conference League final on Wednesday against Rayo Vallecano, which Palace won. Richards was on the bench for the final in Leipzig, Germany but did not play and arrived to the USMNT’s pre-World Cup training camp in the Atlanta suburbs on Friday morning. He did not train with the main group on either Friday or Saturday and will not be traveling to Charlotte, N.C., for Sunday’s friendly.”We decided with Chris, with the medical staff and the performance [team for him] not to be part of today, the group,” head coach Mauricio Pochettino stated on Saturday. “We are going to be in North Carolina playing tomorrow against Senegal. I think he needs to keep doing his rehab and I think it’s much better for him to stay here and plan to train and reevaluate next week how he is.”
Pochettino was unable to offer a timeline on Richards’ return to the pitch, even if he was eagerly awaiting one himself.”I was asking from yesterday, when [he] arrived, to Jesus [Perez, assistant coach] 100 times,” Pochettino stated. “‘What do you think? What do you think? Which information [do] we have?’ Wait, wait, wait, wait. The answer was, ‘Wait, wait, wait, wait.’ It’s too early. We need to see. The next few days are going to be key to see the possibility, to see if he’s ready or not [for] the World Cup.”
World Cup squads are due to FIFA on Monday, allowing all competing national teams to make changes until then. Teams also have the option of making a change to the roster the day before their first World Cup match if a player is ruled out through injury.
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