Ruh-row! Another center back may be out for the United States

The options for selection at center back were already a little thin in the U.S. camp, thanks to Oguchi Onyewu’s suspension due to yellow card accumulation.

Now Jay DeMerit is spending a bit of time on the sidelines. Two words: not good.

DeMerit had surely been penciled into the lineup for Saturday’s huge World Cup qualifier against El Salvador,probably alongside Carlos Bocanegra.

But the Watford captain was limited in training Tuesday by a groin strain. With little apparent improvement he was held out of all team drills on Wednesday as the team continues to train in the mountains (and tough elevation) of Park City, Utah.

He did individual drills instead on Wednesday. I spoke late this evening to U.S. Soccer media relations manager Michael Kammarman, who told me the center back was being officially listed as "day to day." As for his availability Saturday at Rio Tinto, that’s a fancy way of saying, "We just don’t know."

That complicates Bradley’s planning, because Bocanegra would have been an option on the left, as he has been lately due to DeMerit’s emergence. Now Bocanegra is sure to work in the middle during training, and that’s probably where he’ll wind up on Saturday. If DeMerit can’t recover in time, look for Chad Marshall to play in the most important match of his young international career.

The other injury issue in the U.S. camp involves striker Conor Casey, who had wisdom teeth removed Monday and has to report to Utah. He was probably going to be a backup anyway, as Bradley is sure to choose two of three among Brian Ching, Charlie Davies and Jozy Altidore.

I’ve written more about it all for an ESPNSoccernet piece that is on the story board for Thursday’s publication. (Updated: here's the link to that piece.)