The United States are set to get their 2026 World Cup campaign underway on Friday evening.
Mexico and Canada will already have taken to the field by the time the USA kick off their tournament in Group D against Paraguay.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side head into the fixture with a lot of expectation on their shoulders, even though most outside of the US don’t think they will get very far in the tournament.
But if they are to prove the doubters wrong, they will need all their top stars, one of whom is Chris Richards, available.
And on that front, Richards has been in training this week, and there is said to be a chance he features despite previous fitness issues.
Chris Richards has been training ahead of USA vs Paraguay
Seth Vertelney has provided a team news update on the USMNT ahead of the meeting with Paraguay.
Speaking for USA Today, the reporter said all 26 of Pochettino’s players trained on Thursday.
Specifically on Richards, he mentioned that after being absent for the last month, he’s trained for three days in a row and seems close to being ready to feature.
Vertelney stated: “Good news for the US, all 26 players are available and training today, it’s the third straight day that that is happening.
“Of course, the big question mark is the health of Chris Richards. He has not played in a month, but he has been out here training in full for the past three days. And so it appears that he is getting close to being ready to go for tomorrow night.
“Not sure if that is actually going to be the case when the starting line-ups come out, or Mauricio Pochettino will choose to be cautious with him. But the US is in good spirits, and they appear to be ready to go for their World Cup opener.”
The Crystal Palace centre-back starting tonight’s game would be a huge plus for the US.
But there are a few more big names who will also need to be in top form to help carry the team to victory.
Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Gio Reyna and Folarin Balogun have all been impressing around the world over the last year or so, and should be among the better performers for the US this summer.
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