Pochettino issues damning message on eve of World Cup: “I am not happy”

I’m dreaming about the World Cup. I’m collecting way too many stickers. I’m thinking about historic starting XIs in the shower. It’s World Cup time, and I’ve got the fever.

Mauricio Pochettino has not. He’s not a happy bunny rabbit. In fact, he’s borderline furious. Because he’s not got his best defender back yet, and that wasn’t the plan.

Chris Richards of Crystal Palace is still not back in action, and it’s irking the USMNT manager as the number on his stopwatch keeps getting smaller. The US play against Germany in their final preparation game before it all kicks off against Paraguay next week.

The defender is recovering from a ankle injury, and the medical staff, if we read into Pochettino’s comments, had heard from Crystal Palace that he would be back and getting up to speed with things stateside by now. This is not the case, and Poch is blaming Palace.

“When we decided on our final list [roster], we thought that Chris would be able to play in the final of Conference League because we had done the list before that and we had some information that we thought he would be able to play,” Pochettino told reporters at a news conference Friday.

“I got a little annoyed, I am not happy”

“After that, we thought he would able to pay versus Senegal. And then today, the information we got was that his injury would take even more time. And I got a little annoyed and I am not happy because Chris Richards is an important player, and we all know that.”

“Maybe the information that we had was not the information that we should have used to make our best decision," he added. Zing. “In the end we are faced with a player for whom we are getting to our second game and he is not available.”

Finally, before tearing into the table with his teeth, Pochettino hinted that they may be forced to give up on getting him back fit in time: “ultimately, we can hope that Chris will be ready, but at the end we have to make a decision as to whether he is in shape or not.”

Pochettino has been on a rampage recently: he also hit out at a FIFA rule change for the World Cup that is going to completely change how we see the game. But for that, click on the Instagram post below.

Get closer to the game! Whether you like your soccer of the European variety or that on this side of the pond, our AS USA app has it all. Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more. Plus, stay updated on NFL, NBA and all other big sports stories as well as the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage, right at your fingertips – anytime, anywhere.

And there’s more: check out our TikTok and Instagram reels for bite-sized visual takes on all the biggest soccer news and insights.