Richards Declares Fitness for USMNT's World Cup Opener Against Paraguay

IRVINE, Calif. – The U.S. men's national team's weeks-long buildup to the World Cup has been full of fascinating subplots, job prospects and weddings among them. Those have slowly fallen by the wayside as their tournament opener on Friday against Paraguay nears, a good vibes version of camp slipping into business mode with each passing day. The one cloud lingering over a team whose disposition has been as sunny as the southern California sunshine that beats on them, though, has finally dissipated.

Chris Richards, arguably the USMNT's most irreplaceable player at this World Cup, is back out on the pitch -- and said he is ready to go at SoFi Stadium in two days' time.

"I'm ready," he said on Wednesday in his first media availability since reporting to USMNT camp on May 29. "I'm ready. I mean, it's a World Cup, so I was going to make myself ready regardless. I'm feeling good. Maybe a little swelling, but nothing tape can't help."

Richards injured his ankle on May 17 while playing for Crystal Palace and has not played since, missing his club's last two games of the season -- including the UEFA Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano on May 27 in Leipzig, Germany , which they won. He also did not feature in the U.S. team's 3-2 win over Senegal on May 31 and their 2-1 loss to Germany on Saturday. He only took part in his full training session on Monday, working around the clock with Friday's game in mind.

"When I first came out with the injury, I was pretty devastated, and I was honestly fearing the worst," he said. "The first time I could probably relax was when I did get the diagnosis. After the game, my ankle was huge, and I came off in a boot and crushes. Again, once I got the diagnosis, I was like, cool. Whatever it takes, I have to make it for this first game."

Richards' teammates have been an audience of sorts during the recovery process, waiting 10 days since his arrival at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center in Fayetteville, Ga. before they could finally train alongside him.

"He was doing everything possible to make sure he was in the best shape possible coming into this week and building up to the first game," Mark McKenzie , who could start alongside him at center back on Friday, said. "To see that live, to see the amount of work he's put in, whether it's on the field and working with a lot of the performance coaches, trying to get that ankle exposed to as many different actions as possible and then off the field, we're talking about recovery. We're talking about every modality you can possibly think of and modalities you probably didn't even know about, but doing everything possible to get himself as fit as he could be for this game."

Though head coach Mauricio Pochettino complained about playing catch-up on the status of Richards' injury on Friday, saying he and his staff lacked clarity from Palace on the situation, Richards said the injury trended exactly as he expected.

"I think with ankles, it can kind of be unpredictable," he said. "I think Palace wanted me to potentially be available for the Conference League final, which I understand. It's a final. it took me two days to get here, as well so maybe it blew up a little bit over the flight but for me, I expected it. I've had an ankle injury before and there wasn't really any setback. It was just a case of getting swelling down and seeing what it's like being on the pitch and it just sometimes could take a little longer than expected."

Richards said he finally felt comfortable last week, after taking part in individual sessions near the team and eventually doing some work on the ball with his teammates.

"I think the first time I really realized that I could be 100% for Friday was probably last week," he said. "A lot of massages, a lot of ice, a lot of compression, things like that but once I was finally on the pitch, it felt good. it felt good and I think that was the main thing. Again, like I said earlier, I can play with pain as long as functionally, I'm good, that's the most important thing."

Pochettino and his staff will ultimately have the final say but Richards said he has not been told he is under a minutes restriction, or that he will need to only play select games through fitness issues.

"I wouldn't put myself in a position if I didn't think I could do everything 100%," he said. "They haven't told me anything. Again, if I'm making myself available, they can trust me to play at 100% … I've done full practices the last few days. I think y'all have seen the intensity of our practices. They're not light so I feel good and no reaction to it and again, I'm confident for what's to come."

Richards hopes that the ankle injury will not impact his ability to play at the World Cup and the U.S. roster is expected to be unaltered at this point, though participating national teams have until 24 hours before their first game to make changes in case of fitness issues. The center back had every possible incentive to work as hard as he did and not only because he missed the 2022 World Cup in Qatar through injury.

"Not just that but also it's a World Cup on home soil," Richards noted. "Any World Cup would mean the world to me, especially being able to play in front of America and that's my number one thing. For me, I knew that I had to do whatever it took to be here and hopefully I can put on a show on Friday."

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_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/usmnts-chris-richards-world-cup-opener-against-paraguay-after-ankle-injury/)._