Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has expressed his disappointment at Chris Richards playing every minute for the USMNT against Ecuador and Australia in the October international window.
The Eagles boss, who oversaw a 2–0 win against Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday, has seen Richards become a key player in his backline, starring alongside Marc Guéhi—a player drawing admiring glances from the likes of Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
But Richards has been dealing with a knock, playing through the issue, and the USMNT are not playing competitive internationals as they are one of the three host nations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“My only complaint is the U.S. team didn’t talk to us because Chris was struggling with his calf for many weeks,” Glasner told reporters. “We talked to them and said he should rest as they were just friendlies. But they played him twice, every single minute. That’s a little bit disappointing. On the other side, we’ve tried to manage his minutes here.
“Chris’s body told him he needs more rest...He says he’s fine, the medical department says he’s fine.”
While Richards played the games during one of the earlier international breaks in the European calendar, his participation—and that of other European-based players representing North American countries—has come under heavy criticism.
Unlike many countries, the U.S., Canada and Mexico, three host nations of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, will not have had any competitive games between the end of the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup in July 2025 and their respective World Cup openers in June 2026.
With no World Cup qualifying, the teams have had to rely on friendlies, much to the displeasure of some of Europe’s biggest clubs, and Richards plays a key role for club and country.
Alphonso Davies and “Gross Negligence”
Richards is not the first player to face such issues in 2025. In March, Bayern Munich threatened to take legal action against Canada Soccer over what it called “gross negligence” in playing left back Alphonso Davies in the Concacaf Nations League third-place match against the USMNT, where he suffered a torn ACL.
Although Bayern did not take legal action, they were not pleased with Davies’ participation, alleging that Canada head coach Jesse Marsch and the federation should not have played him, even though he was available.
“He is the captain, a young man who wanted to help his team, but it was borderline,” said Bayern’s sporting director Christoph Freund. “The second issue is the injury after 12 minutes. Then Phonzy flies back on a 12-hour flight, and we all assume it is not a serious injury, but then we have this.
“That is sloppy. It is not professional, and we need to talk and clear it up. We are the employers, we pay the players, so we will be looking into what happened.”
Davies has not played since the injury, but is expected to return before the end of 2025 and be recovered for Canada’s pre-World Cup friendlies as well as the tournament itself.
Could Christian Pulisic Face a Similar Judgment?
Richards’ USMNT teammate, Christian Pulisic, could miss the November international window due to AC Milan’s request that he stay with the club to rehabilitate the hamstring strain suffered in October against Australia.
The 26-year-old came off the bench in the USMNT’s win over the Australians, but left the game after a crunching challenge and has missed each of Milan’s games since, unable to build on his four goals and two assists so far in Serie A.
The USMNT return to the pitch with two final friendlies in 2025, taking on Paraguay on Nov. 15 and Uruguay on Nov. 18, before looking ahead to the March international window—the final break from club action ahead of the World Cup.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Premier League Boss Calls Out USMNT Injury Treatment in Growing Trend.