IRVINE, Calif. — United States defender Chris Richards was a full participant in Monday’s open training session at Great Park ahead of the Americans’ opening World Cup match on Friday.
The session, which took place in front of 5,500 spectators, marked the first time that Richards participated in an entire practice alongside his teammates since appearing with the USMNT at the World Cup roster announcement in New York on May 26.
The session, which lasted about 45 minutes, consisted of a light warmup followed by multiple small-sided games. Richards appeared to be running and cutting with no discomfort.
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“Today, [it’s Richards] first time with the team,” U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino told reporters. “It’s good to have nearly everyone ready to be selected for the [Paraguay] game.”
The Crystal Palace defender injured his ankle on May 17 in a match against Brentford. Palace manager Oliver Glasner later said that Richards had torn two ligaments. Richards was an unused sub in Palace’s 1-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano in the UEFA Conference League final.
Richards sat out both of the USMNT’s pre-World Cup friendlies against Senegal on May 31 — a 3-2 win — and Germany on June 6 — a 2-1 loss — in a bid to continue his recovery. He continues a race to be fit in time for the USMNT’s first World Cup match against Paraguay this Friday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
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Having Richards in the starting lineup would help stabilize a backline that struggled to defend in transition, and has been prone to individual errors across the two recent friendlies. U.S. captain and defender Tim Ream said the team is looking to make improvements defensively and tighten things up.
“I think there’s always room and areas to improve,” Ream said at a news conference on Monday before training. “Obviously not happy with goals conceded. I think that’s always a big one that everybody, including ourselves, would look at. Connections and communication can always be even better than they are and that solves a lot of problems.
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“We’ll look at video over the next couple of days and understand where we can be tighter, where we can be more connected. But if you look at the Germany game [there was] improvement. We’ll look at areas and make sure that everything’s tightened and buttoned up.”
Midfielder Tyler Adams was limited to gym work on Monday due to what a U.S. Soccer spokesperson said was “load management.”
