Mauricio Pochettino kept the injured defender on the 26-man roster when the US men’s national team officially submitted the names to Fifa on Monday.

Richards suffered torn ankle ligaments while playing for Crystal Palace last month, but it didn’t stop Pochettino from naming him to the World Cup roster about two weeks later.

Richards, a 26-year-old centre back and certain starter when healthy, is with the team at training headquarters outside Atlanta.

Pochettino said over the weekend that the team hadn’t made a final decision over Richards’ World Cup fitness.

“We need to see,” Pochettino said. “The next few days are going to be key, to see the possibility to be ready or not on the World Cup,” he added.

Richards can still be replaced on the roster before June 11, as the US opens the tournament June 12 against Paraguay in Inglewood, Calif.

The US is co-hosting the 48-team tournament with Canada and Mexico.

The Americans beat Senegal 3-2 in a friendly Sunday, and they’ll have one more tune-up this Saturday against Germany.

US World Cup roster 

Goalkeepers: Chris Brady, Matt Freese, Matt Turner

Defenders: Max Arfsten, Sergino Dest, Alex Freeman, Mark McKenzie, Tim Ream, Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson, Miles Robinson, Joe Scally, Auston Trusty

Midfielders: Tyler Adams, Sebastian Berhalter, Weston McKennie, Cristian Roldan

Attacking midfielders/wingers: Brenden Aaronson, Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna, Malik Tillman, Tim Weah, Alejandro Zendejas

Forwards: Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi, Haji Wright