USMNT's Chris Richards 'ready' for World Cup opener vs. Paraguay - ESPN

IRVINE, Calif. — U.S. men's national team defender Chris Richards says his recovery from a sprained ankle has progressed to the point where he's «ready» to face Paraguay in the team's World Cup opener on Friday.

The Crystal Palace defender has spent the past several weeks trying to get fit enough to play against La Albirroja and says he is well enough to take the field.

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«I'm ready,» he told reporters Wednesday. «I mean, it's the World Cup, so I'm going to make myself ready regardless. I'm feeling good. Maybe a little swollen, but nothing tape can't help.»

Richards sat out both of the USMNT's pre-World Cup friendlies, with U.S. head coach Mauricio Pochettino saying before last weekend's defeat to Germany that the information the USMNT received from Palace made him a "little annoyed," and that the rehab was longer than expected.

But Richards felt that the recovery period was about right.

«Rehab is rehab. It's never really fun,» Richards added. «It's been long days of just trying to get my ankle right, swelling, whatever the case is, trying to get everything right. But it took about as long as I expected. I think the initial diagnosis was day-to-day, but I think for me I was maybe more at the two to three weeks.»

Richards acknowledged, however, that he feared he might miss out on his second consecutive World Cup due to injury.

«When I first came out with the injury, I was pretty devastated, and I was honestly fearing the worst,» he said. «But I kind of forced myself back on the pitch to prove to myself that it was doable.

»So, for me, once I finally got the diagnosis, it was, 'All right, how do I