Mauricio Pochettino is not a man who hides his feelings, and true to form, the United States head coach made it pretty clear he was not best pleased after learning that Chris Richards would sit out the team's final warm-up friendly before the World Cup. An ankle injury has taken the decision out of everyone's hands, and for Poch, the timing could hardly be worse.
Richards has been one of the more reliable performers in the US backline and was firmly established as the first-choice centre back heading into this camp. Losing him for the last proper run-out before the tournament means Pochettino cannot do what he actually wanted to do, which is get his first-choice defensive pairing working together with match minutes under their belts. That kind of preparation matters more than people give it credit for.
Now, Richards should still have time to recover before the tournament itself kicks off, so nobody needs to panic just yet. Ankle injuries vary wildly in terms of severity, and the fact that it has come up in the context of a friendly miss rather than a longer layoff is at least mildly encouraging. But Pochettino will be watching his recovery like a hawk over the coming days.
What this does do, though, is hand some minutes to whoever steps in alongside the other starters at the back. On one hand that is a problem, but on the other, it gives Poch a chance to see how his backup options cope under a bit of pressure. Every cloud and all that.
The broader point here is that the USA are a team with genuine ambition heading into this World Cup, playing on home soil with a fanbase that is growing more football-mad by the year. Pochettino has been building something real with this squad, and disruptions like this are the last thing he needs. Getting Richards fit and firing before the tournament starts has to be the number one priority right now.
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