Chris Richards’s World Cup in doubt as ankle injury rules USMNT defender out for Germany friendly

Chris Richards will not take part in the United States’ final World Cup tune-up friendly against Germany, head coach Mauricio Pochettino said in Friday’s pre-match press conference. While Pochettino awaits further assessments, the defender’s status for the World Cup is decidedly in doubt. “He’s still not ready to compete and play,” Pochettino said Friday. “I think we are going to have that opportunity in the next few days to assess him and see his ankle, and then to make a decision.” Richards suffered an ankle injury in Crystal Palace’s second-to-last match of its Premier League season against Brentford. The exact nature of the injury is not known, except for Palace manager Oliver Glasner saying that he had torn ligaments in his ankle. He missed their league finale against Arsenal and did not play in the Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano. Ahead of the Arsenal match, Glasner said Richards could be available for the European final, an assessment that had cast a rosier projection of Richards’s readiness for the World Cup – boosted by several reports that there was little doubt in Richards’s camp about his availability for this summer’s tournament. On Friday, Pochettino admitted he believed Richards was closer to match fitness given Glasner’s comments that the defender could potentially feature in the Conference League final. …