CHICAGO — In a hopeful development for the United States men’s national soccer team ahead of the upcoming FIFA World Cup, star central defender Chris Richards rejoined full team training Friday at the Chicago Fire’s Endeavor Health Performance Center, marking a key milestone in his rapid recovery from a serious ankle injury. The 26-year-old suffered tears to two ligaments in his left ankle during a club match with England’s Crystal Palace back on May 17, an injury that immediately cast major doubt over his ability to feature in the global tournament.
While Richards was ruled out of the U.S. men’s national team (USMNT) pre-World Cup friendly against Germany this Saturday, coaching staff and teammates remain optimistic that he will be fit enough to take the field when the USMNT kicks off their Group D campaign against Paraguay next week. During the 15-minute segment of practice open to reporters, Richards showed no visible discomfort as he completed warm-up drills alongside the rest of the squad.
Richards’ return comes with extra narrative weight: he was already forced to miss the 2022 Qatar World Cup after suffering a hamstring injury, making this comeback bid all the more meaningful for the team widely regarded as their best active central defender. Midfielder Weston McKennie, a core leader of the USMNT squad, emphasized the entire group is fully behind Richards’ recovery.
“Chris Richards is on the right path to coming back and being completely with the squad,” 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, with 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 out with the group.”
USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino acknowledged that while Richards’ rehabilitation has progressed well, he is not yet cleared for competitive match play. With the deadline to replace injured players on the 26-man World Cup roster coming this Thursday, the coaching staff faces a rapidly approaching decision on Richards’ status. Pochettino noted that medical staff have strongly advised against Richards featuring in Saturday’s friendly, even as the defender pushes to prove his fitness ahead of the opener.
“His training and his evolution is well, but he still is not ready to compete and to play,” Pochettino said ahead of Friday’s session. “Maybe this is the final of the World Cup, maybe he can play [Saturday], but the advice of the medical area is not to play.”
The USMNT enters Saturday’s friendly off a tight 3-2 exhibition win over Senegal earlier this week. Beyond their opening match against Paraguay, the team will face Group D opponents Australia on June 19 and Turkey on June 25. McKennie said the pre-tournament friendly against Germany will serve as a critical test of the squad’s chemistry and new tactics heading into the competition, with a mix of inexperienced and veteran players set to feature.
“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 circumstances in general leading into a World Cup, I think it’s going to be a great test for us.”
Saturday’s match at Chicago’s Soldier Field also marks a homecoming for former USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter, who was hired as head coach and director of football for the Chicago Fire in October 2024, 10 months after his second stint leading the national team ended. With the USMNT hosting training at the Fire’s practice facility, Berhalter got the chance to reconnect with his former players and watch his son Sebastian, a current USMNT midfielder, train with the squad. Berhalter, who led the USMNT to the 2022 World Cup round of 16, reflected on how much the current core of players has grown since he first worked with them.
“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.”
Thirteen players on the current 2026 World Cup USMNT roster previously featured on Berhalter’s 2022 squad, with 11 earning game time in Qatar. For Germany, Saturday’s friendly is their final tune-up before their World Cup opener against Curacao on June 14, after which they will face Group E opponents Ivory Coast on June 20 and Ecuador on June 25.