LEIPZIG, Germany -- Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner confirmed that Chris Richards returned to training on Tuesday, with the United States international recovering from an ankle injury less than three weeks before the World Cup.
Glasner said last week that Richards had torn two ligaments in his ankle and would be 50/50 to be involved in Wednesday's UEFA Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano.
- 2026 World Cup injuries tracker: Concern for Argentina's Messi?
- Yamal named for Spain: All World Cup squads announced so far
He suffered the initial injury in Palace's 2-2 draw with Brentford in the closing weeks of the Premier League season.
Richards was named in the U.S. men's national team's 26-man roster for the World Cup on Tuesday, with coach Mauricio Pochettino saying they will wait to assess his fitness for the tournament. Teams can make changes to their roster because of injury or illness up until 24 hours before their first game.
The U.S. begins its tournament against Paraguay on June 13 before taking on Australia and Türkiye to close out their group stage.
"We don't know, we'll see tomorrow if he plays and then we'll decide," Pochettino told a news conference. "We want to see and then we'll decide because we have time until one day before the World Cup to make changes."
Palace take on Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday night in Glasner's last game in charge at the club.
Glasner said the final decision on his involvement and that of midfielder Adam Wharton, who was forced off in Palace's final day defeat to Arsenal, will be taken on the day of the final.
"I won't tell you if they [Richards and Wharton] can start or not, but they were available today in training." Glasner told a news conference.
"Yeah, we've still said when we end the training 36 hours to the start of the game with medical department, we work hard until late in the night and we'll start tomorrow, but at the end we will nominate the starting 11 who is 100% fit.
"So if we talk to them tomorrow morning again and if the player doesn't feel 100% fit or I have a bit of concerns, then they don't start.
"But the positive thing is that they could make the training without big issues and of course they still have pain, but I think many players are feeling some pain after such a long season and that everybody wants to participate, but the final decision will be taken tomorrow."
Richards captained the USMNT in their most recent friendly against Portugal and is one of Pochettino's key men going into a home World Cup.
The center back missed the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with a hamstring injury.