{"id":3259,"date":"2026-03-31T01:15:52","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T01:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=3259"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:15:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T01:15:52","slug":"if-chris-richards-is-available-its-good-usa-set-to-have-its-star-defender-vs-portugal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=3259","title":{"rendered":"&#039;If Chris Richards Is Available, It&#039;s Good&#039;: USA Set To Have Its Star Defender vs. Portugal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6><strong>MARIETTA, Georgia <\/strong>\u2014 Chris Richards knew the question was coming. And when he heard it, he smiled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>&#8220;Tell us about your knee \u2014 what\u2019s going on there?&#8221; a reporter asked Monday ahead of the U.S. men\u2019s national team\u2019s training session.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>The Crystal Palace center back missed Saturday\u2019s 5-2 defeat to Belgium because of a knee issue. USA manager Mauricio Pochettino said in the days beforehand that Richards arrived at training camp early last week with some soreness and wouldn\u2019t play. But his presence at a press conference was a good sign that he\u2019d be good to go for Tuesday\u2019s World Cup tune-up vs. Portugal.<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Omar Vega\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>&#8220;I had a bad tackle in my last game with Palace,&#8221; Richards said, referring to his club\u2019s 2-1 win over AEK Larnaca in a UEFA Conference League match. &#8220;So just a little bit of knee pain, knee soreness. But I\u2019ve been training individually all week and I\u2019m available.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>That\u2019s a relief for a thin back line, which has been dealing with various injuries on and off for a while. There was left back Antonee &#8220;Jedi&#8221; Robinson, who missed about a year-and-a-half\u2019s worth of matches while recovering from a knee injury. He\u2019s back with the national team now though, and had the assist on Weston McKennie\u2019s goal in the first half Saturday. Right back Sergino Dest was not called up for this roster because of a hamstring injury, and center back Miles Robinson tweaked his groin during training in Atlanta last week and didn\u2019t play against Belgium and won\u2019t suit up against Portugal, either.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>Richards wore a wrap and bandage just below his right knee during Monday\u2019s training session, but otherwise appeared loose and ready while warming up alongside Robinson and fellow center back Tim Ream.<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Omar Vega\/Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>It\u2019s no secret that the team needs Richards to be healthy. The 26-year-old, who was named U.S. Soccer\u2019s Male Player of the Year in 2025, provides experience on the back line where he starts regularly in the Premier League and for the national team. He missed out on the 2022 World Cup because of a hamstring injury, but figures to play an important role for the team at this summer\u2019s tournament on home soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>Pochettino said Monday that the squad needed to be better \"in the defensive phase\" against Belgium. In Richards\u2019 absence, Pochettino went with a traditional 4-3-2-1 lineup with Robinson, Ream, Mark McKenzie and Tim Weah in the back.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>\"If Chris Richards is available, it\u2019s good,\" Pochettino said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>The U.S. manager did relay some new injury news, however. Midfielder Johnny Cardoso, who started Saturday and played 45 minutes, is heading back to Atl\u00e9tico Madrid to rehab a minor injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>\"He arrived from Madrid with small issues,\" Pochettino said. \"The plan was 45 minutes [vs. Belgium]. Afterwards, he [felt] again this type of uncomfortable things in his leg.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>Tuesday's match against Portugal is the last game the team will play before Pochettino names his 26-man World Cup roster in New York City on May 26.<\/p>\n\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY MARIETTA, Georgia \u2014 Chris Richards knew the question was coming. And when he heard it, he smiled. &#8220;Tell us about your knee \u2014 what\u2019s going on there?&#8221; a reporter asked Monday ahead of the U.S. men\u2019s national team\u2019s training session. The Crystal Palace center back missed Saturday\u2019s 5-2 defeat to Belgium [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}