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One of the most in-form Americans in Europe this domestic season, DeAndre Yedlin, was absent from Bruce Arena’s World Cup qualifying roster on Thursday. The United States manager addressed his absence in a Facebook Live chat after the roster reveal, saying that a thigh injury suffered two weeks ago with Newcastle United was just too severe to consider bringing him in.
Arena says that USMNT doctors evaluated Yedlin and ruled him out for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and Panama. The second-term manager revealed that the injury would likely take as many as five weeks to heal and would keep Yedlin out until sometime in April.
“DeAndre was examined by our team doctors and we realized he's not going to be able to go for these two matches. Likely he'll be out about five weeks so I would expect that he'll be back on the field for Newcastle right at the end of this season toward the end of April.”
The timing of the injury couldn’t have been worse for Yedlin, Newcastle, or the USMNT. Obviously, these two qualifiers are extremely important and not having your best right back available is a concern. Arena will have to look to guys like Geoff Cameron and Michael Orozco as possible starters. Meanwhile, for Newcastle it’s tough too as they are fighting hard to keep their grasp on a guaranteed promotion spot in the Championship.