U.S. defender Chris Richards taken off on stretcher with foot injury but hopeful of January return
Crystal Palace and U.S. men’s national team defender Chris Richards required stitches to his foot but appeared to avoid a long-term injury after being taken off on a stretcher during his side’s Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat to Arsenal on Tuesday
Palace manager Oliver Glasner said Richards was a doubt to face Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday but explained the injury did not appear serious and was hopeful he would be able to return in the new year.
The defender appeared to sustain the problem as he jumped to challenge for a header in the 75th minute at the Emirates. He received treatment on the pitch, with his boot and sock removed from his right foot, and the lower half of his body was covered in a sheet as he was carried off the pitch.
“He had a knock on his foot, (someone) stamped on his foot and it had to be stitched,” Glasner told a post-match press conference. “The doctor told me it doesn’t look so bad. I’m always hopeful and we have to be hopeful.
“I don’t know if he will be OK for the Tottenham game but I’m still hoping he will be back for the Fulham game (on January 1) because we have 16 outfield players and we can’t afford to miss someone else.“
Glasner added to Sky Sports: “(Without him) we struggled a little bit with (defending) tall players. He’s one of our best headers and we had to take him off and Will Hughes comes on because we didn’t have a tall player or tall defender on the bench.”
Tuesday’s cup tie finished in a 1-1 draw and was sent to penalties after Marc Guehi’s 95th-minute equaliser cancelled out Maxence Lacroix’s own goal. Both sides’ first seven penalties were successfully dispatched, but after William Saliba converted Arsenal’s eighth, Lacroix’s effort was saved by Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Richards, 25, has featured 24 times in all competitions for Palace this season and has started all 17 of his side’s Premier League games.
His injury comes ahead of a busy period of fixtures for Palace, who play Tottenham, Fulham, Newcastle United and Aston Villa over the course of the next two weeks.
The defender has been capped 35 times by the U.S. since his senior debut in 2020 and is a regular starter under Mauricio Pochettino.
The U.S.’s World Cup preparations were dealt a blow last week when midfielder Tyler Adams suffered a medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury during Bournemouth’s draw against Manchester United. He could be sidelined for up to three months and faces a race to be fit for Pochettino’s side’s next pair of matches, international friendlies against Belgium and Portugal on March 28 and March 31.
‘A sigh of relief for the U.S.’
Analysis from U.S. Soccer Editor Avi Creditor
On the shortlist of players the U.S. could ill afford to have get hurt entering the World Cup, Richards is high on it, so Glasner’s relatively positive prognosis should emit a big sigh of relief from Mauricio Pochettino and all U.S. supporters. Richards has emerged as a leader in the player pool on and off the field, and he is both the Americans’ most adept defender and most dangerous target on the end of set pieces. The cupboard beyond Richards as it relates to true centre-backs is quite bare, and the thought of a World Cup without him would be a daunting one.
Despite being 38, Tim Ream remains entrenched in Pochettino’s plans, but Miles Robinson and Mark McKenzie would become far more important in the player pool in the event of a longer-term situation, as would Celtic’s Auston Trusty. A wild card beyond them is uncapped 19-year-old Noahkai Banks, who has become a fixture for Augsburg in the Bundesliga and could still find himself thrown a high-intensity audition in March in friendlies against Belgium and Portugal — the last two matches before Pochettino is expected to announce his final World Cup squad.
Another wild card in the mix in the back is midfielder Tanner Tessmann, who has been given a runout at centre-back by Lyon and has proven versatile. With both Richards and, to a greater extent, Tyler Adams sidelined (Adams should be back within three months), Tessmann’s ability to provide cover in midfield and in the back should cement his World Cup prospects.
From a personal standpoint, this not proving to be serious would be quite a boon for Richards. A leg injury forced him to miss the 2022 World Cup, where he was poised to play a role for Gregg Berhalter in Qatar. Still just 25, this wouldn’t be his last shot at playing in a World Cup, but missing one on home soil and in his prime after already missing out on another would be a brutally tough pill to swallow. Fortunately, it doesn’t look like this will put that participation in jeopardy.
