CHICAGO — Chris Richards joined the U.S. men’s soccer team for practice Friday in the Windy City, a positive sign for the top defender for the Americans as he tries to make it back in time to join them for the World Cup.
Richards tore two ligaments in his left ankle in a May 17 match for his professional club, Crystal Palace of England’s Premier League. He has been ruled out for Saturday’s exhibition against Germany in Chicago, but the U.S. is holding out hope the 26-year-old from Birmingham, Alabama, might be able to play in the team’s World Cup opener against Paraguay next Friday at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
“Chris Richards is on the right path to coming back and being completely with the squad,” midfielder Weston McKennie said. “I think everyone trusts his body and what he feels, and the coaching staff as well. He’s an important piece of the group — his energy, his leadership on and off the field — and so obviously we’re just all behind him and can’t wait to have him back and out with the group.”
Richards, who missed the 2022 World Cup because of a hamstring injury, is considered the best central defender for the U.S. During the 15-minute portion of Friday’s practice open to the media, he showed no signs of any trouble as he warmed up with the rest of the team at Endeavor Health Performance Center, the practice home for Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire.
“His training and his evolution is well, but he still is not ready to compete and to play,” U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said before practice.
Pochettino and his staff are running out of time when it comes to making a decision on Richards. They can replace injured players on their 26-man roster until Thursday, the same day the 48-team tournament being co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States will have its first two matches.
“Maybe (if) this is the final of the World Cup, maybe he can play,” Pochettino said of Saturday’s game at Soldier Field, “but the advice of the medical area is not to play.”
Richards was the last to arrive as the team gathered last week at the new U.S. Soccer National Training Center near Atlanta for its final push of World Cup preparation, and he did not make the trip for the Americans’ exhibition last Sunday against Senegal in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the U.S. won 3-2.
After its opener against Paraguay, the U.S. also has Group D games against Australia on June 19 at Seattle’s Lumen Field and against Turkey on June 25, with that match back at SoFi Stadium.
Saturday’s game will also serve as Germany’s last World Cup tuneup before facing Curacao on June 14. The four-time World Cup champions also have Group E games against Ivory Coast on June 20 and Ecuador on June 25.
“We’ll be going into this game with a lot of players that haven’t played against them yet, and players that have,” McKennie said, “so I think the new energy, the new style, the new, just, circumstances in general leading into a World Cup, I think it’s going to be a great test for us.”
The U.S. has 13 players who were on Gregg Berhalter’s roster for the 2022 World Cup, including 11 who made an appearance in Qatar. Berhalter was fired 10 months into his second stint as U.S. coach, but he took over the Fire when he was hired as head coach and director of football in October 2024.
With the Americans practicing Friday at the Fire’s facility, Berhalter got a chance to catch up with his son Sebastian, a midfielder on the U.S. team, as well as some of his former players.
“When I got them, they were young. They were babies and they were just learning what it takes to be a professional athlete,” Berhalter said. “And now when I see them, they’re men. They have kids. They’re adults, and they know exactly what it means to maintain themselves as professionals. And it’s an amazing thing to see.”