If the US men’s national team needed a test run for how a sudden injury crisis could affect preparations for games against top opponents at the World Cup, they have one now. Injuries to defenders Chris Richards and Miles Robinson have the US facing a sudden center-back shortage ahead of friendlies against Belgium on Saturday and Portugal on Tuesday – the final two games before head coach Mauricio Pochettino names his roster for this summer’s World Cup on home soil.
Richards, who is a presumed starter and unquestioned leader along the backline, was ruled out for the first friendly against Belgium with what Pochettino termed a “problem” with his knee, while Miles Robinson will miss both games after suffering a groin injury in training with the US earlier this week.
“When we talk about being right in the players that you pick … if this is happening in a World Cup, you need to see all the options that you have,” Pochettino said Friday after announcing the absences. “These circumstances can happen.”
Pochettino said Richards was given permission to travel to the US by his club side, Crystal Palace, after playing in the Europa League on Thursday against AEK Larnaca, but that Richards reported issues with his knee to US staff after arriving in Atlanta. Pochettino said Richards trained on and off during the week but continued to report the issues and will be held out for precautionary reasons for the first friendly against Belgium.
Robinson’s case, comparatively, is much more straightforward. He arrived in camp, suffered a groin injury, and is “for sure” out for both friendlies, Pochettino said.
“It’s lucky that we brought five center-backs,” Pochettino said.
Indeed, he will have just three healthy natural center-backs to call upon Saturday: Tim Ream, Auston Trusty and Mark McKenzie. If the US run out three center-backs in these friendlies as they did in strong performances against Japan, Paraguay and Uruguay at the end of 2025, that trio appear to be Pochettino’s only straightforward options. However, playing all three at once creates a possible issue: all three are naturally left-footed, which could result in some discomfort in buildup for a team still drilling a change in tactical system implemented towards the end of last year.
Pochettino said that the absences could also create an opportunity to try players at different spots, naming usual right-back Joe Scally and everyday midfielder Tanner Tessmann as players who could plug the gap at the back. Scally, at least, has played as a right center-back in a three-man backline before, filling the role occasionally in the Bundesliga with Borussia Mönchengladbach. But he admitted Thursday that he feels most comfortable as a right-back in a back four.
“I can fit in as a right center-back in a three, or a right wing-back,” Scally said. “I played a little bit of a left wing-back this camp. So honestly, [I’m] filling in wherever the coach needs me, wherever I can get on the field. So I feel comfortable in them all.”
Pochettino’s naming of Tessmann may raise eyebrows. The Lyon man has played almost exclusively as a midfielder over his career for club and country, but he has filled in as a center-back on three occasions for Lyon this season: a 0-0 draw against Le Havre in March, a 3-0 win over Nantes in November and a 6-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Europa League that same month. Only one of those appearances, though, saw Tessmann play in a back three. At 6ft 2in, Tessmann certainly has the physical profile to play in the position, with ball-playing skills that would be right at home for the role’s modern demands.
The only other potential option at the position in camp with the US at this time is Alex Freeman, the former Orlando City standout who completed a move to Villarreal in January but has seen playing time hard to come by in Spain. Freeman, like Tessmann, has the physical profile for the position but has been played almost exclusively as an attack-minded right back since breaking through with Orlando. The major exception is the final game of last year for the USMNT, a 5-1 thrashing of Uruguay in which Freeman played as a right center-back behind a very attack-minded right wing-back, Sergiño Dest. Freeman looked promising in the role, scoring twice in the best performance of his young US career.
No matter who Pochettino chooses Saturday or Tuesday, though, they will receive a trial by fire. There are no reinforcements coming, the group is the group, and at a World Cup, these are the kinds of situations that great teams make the best of.
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