Yedlin has thigh injury, status in question for qualifiers

Newcastle defender DeAndre Yedlin has a thigh injury, putting his status in question for the United States' World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and Panama.

Yedlin did not dress for Newcastle's 0-0 draw at Reading on Tuesday night in England's second-tier League Championship, and manager Rafa Benitez said after the match that the 23-year-old might have a small tear.

''If DeAndre's healthy he'll be part of our squad in March,'' U.S. coach Bruce Arena said Wednesday during a Facebook chat with fans. ''We just have to follow him over the next couple weeks and see how he's dealing with that injury.''

Timmy Chandler, who started at right back in November, will miss the March 24 qualifier against Honduras at San Jose, California, because of a one-game suspension for yellow-card accumulation. The U.S. is at Panama on March 28.

The U.S. lost to Mexico and Costa Rica in November in the first two games of the final round of the North and Central American and Caribbean region, leading the U.S. Soccer Federation to fire coach Jurgen Klinsmann and bring back Arena, the American coach from 1998-06.