Opportunity abounds for locals Auston Trusty and Mark McKenzie as the injury bug bites the USMNT at centerback

MARIETTA, Ga. — The U.S. men’s soccer team will be without two of the five centerbacks on this month’s squad for at least Saturday’s game against Belgium (3 p.m., TNT, Telemundo 62), and likely also Tuesday’s game vs. Portugal (7 p.m., Telemundo 62).

Manager Mauricio Pochettino said Friday that Miles Robinson has a groin injury, and Chris Richards has a knee issue. Robinson did not train on Thursday and Friday, and Richards did not train on Friday.

Richards is the bigger loss, as he perhaps was the most locked-in starter leading up to the World Cup.

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“A difficult situation to assess and to explain because he played Thursday in Europe with [Crystal] Palace,” Pochettino said, referring to Richards’ outing in the Europa Conference League last week. “The club gave [him] permission to come to America, and he reported on Monday some problems in his knee. After we [assessed] him, he was [in] some part of the training Tuesday, but he could not finish Wednesday, and he now feels something in his knee.”

Pochettino added that “we hope that [it] is nothing important, but for tomorrow he is out, and I don’t believe that he can arrive [at health by] Tuesday. [We will] see if we can assess him to take a risk or not take a risk.”

Robinson is competing for the third starting spot next to Richards and Tim Ream. The FC Cincinnati veteran has been part of every U.S. camp in Pochettino’s tenure except two he missed with injuries and is the top competitor from MLS for the open role.

“For sure, Miles Robinson is out for the two games,” Pochettino said. “He suffered a minor injury in his groin, I think it was Monday or Tuesday.”

The three official centerbacks available to play are Ream and Union alumni Mark McKenzie and Auston Trusty. Outside backs Joe Scally and Alex Freeman also can play in Pochetto’s three-centerback system, and defensive midfielder Tanner Tessmann can drop deeper.

It’s clear by now that the player in the biggest spotlight this month is Gio Reyna. The player who might lay claim to the second has just as much of a club pedigree, but not as much fame.

Midfielder Johnny Cardoso has flown the flag for Americans in Spain for just over two years now. He started with Real Betis, played very well there, and earned a big move to Atlético Madrid last summer.

» READ MORE: Gio Reyna knows it’s ‘controversial’ that he’s back with the USMNT, and aims to show his talent again

It took him a little while to settle there, thanks partially to an ankle injury, but he’s now playing regularly and well. Los Colchoneros sit fourth in La Liga, a point back of third, and this month reached the Champions League quarterfinals by toppling England’s Tottenham Hotspur.

But it’s been a different story with the U.S. team for the 24-year-old, who was born in North Jersey and moved to Brazil with his family at three months old. Cardoso has rarely played well in his 22 caps, with some of the worst outings coming in high-profile losses to Turkey and Switzerland last summer. An injury then limited him to two brief cameos in the Gold Cup, and hasn’t been called into a U.S. squad since then.

This, then, is a big moment, and he and Pochettino know it.

“It was a hard time,” he said of his summer struggles. “Everyone lives bad and good moments. So I just turned the page and tried to work as hard as I can to be better, to improve. … These things happen, and we are here to live, to forget, to learn [from] the wrong things that we did, and be better day by day.”

He admitted that the wait to return to the national team was difficult.

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“It was a long time,” he said. “But I always put it in my mind that I just need to work hard. To show you all that I have [the] level to to come back to the national team and to be here and enjoy the moment with my teammates and be ready for the World Cup as well.”

Some outsiders wonder if the national team jersey has weighed heavy on Cardoso psychologically, even though he plays for as big of a club as Atlético. He admitted that there’s some truth to that.

“I would say yes,” he said. “It’s always a big step to represent a country. Of course, Atlético is a big team, but the pleasure that we have to represent our country is a massive effort that you need to show on the pitch as well.”

Added Pochettino: “It’s a great opportunity for Johnny, because he’s performing really well at Atlético Madrid. I hope Johnny has the possibility now, tomorrow or against Portugal, to play and to perform, and to build his good feelings like he has in Atlético Madrid here with the national team. That is really important.”