Crystal Palace defender Chris Richards has reported a knee injury that is likely to rule him out of both of the USA's matches against Portugal and Belgium. Richards reported the problem in US training, though it is not known if he suffered the injury on Palace duty or in training.
Crystal Palace defender Chris Richards has reported a knee injury and will miss the friendly with Belgium for the USA on Saturday night.
Richards has been crucial for Palace this season, playing 39 matches across all competitions and was going to be a vital player for the business end of the season as the club look to finish consecutive seasons with a trophy to their name.
In 2025, he also played 12 times for the USA, at least double what he has played in every other calendar year bar 2024, where he played nine times.
Mauricio Pochettino was hoping to be able to deploy Richards against Belgium and Portugal but it now appears he will not be involved in either match.
It is not clear whether he picked up the injury on duty for Palace against AEK Larnaca, where he played 75 minutes, or if it was in training with his country.
Ben Jacobs reported on Twitter: “Chris Richards has an issue with his knee.
“He did not finish training on Wednesday and was missing from today’s session.
“Mauricio Pochettino confirms he won’t feature in the game against Belgium.”
Oliver Glasner will be nervously waiting on the return of his player and hoping that his injury does not rule him out of the first leg against Fiorentina on April 9.
ESPN reported that Richards will likely be out of both of USA’s matches against Belgium and Portugal.
A report on their site read: “Chris Richards is likely to sit out both games with a knee problem.
“He definitely won't play Saturday and likely won't be available Tuesday.”
Mauricio Pochettino confirmed there was no issue between Palace and the USA with Richards’ injury.
In a press conference, he said: “The club gave permission to come to America and he report[ed] some problems in his knee.
"After we were assessing him, he was training some part of the training Tuesday but he [could] not finish Wednesday and he now feels something in his knee.
"We hope that it's nothing important but for tomorrow [he] is out and I don't believe that [he] can arrive Tuesday.”
Palace do not have a game before April 9 but are then thrown into a hugely congested schedule, with five matches in 16 days in April.
Glasner will be desperate for both Richards and Maxence Lacroix, who made his debut with France on Thursday night, to return fit and ready to go as Palace look to finish the season strongly.