Carlos Bocanegra

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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – There’s haze in the air and maybe just a smidge of foggy concern hanging over Rio Tinto Stadium.

The smoky haze is due to wildfires in the region.

If there is any concern, it’s about Jay DeMerit, who didn’t practice with the team once again on Friday and is out for Saturday’s qualifier against El Salvador.

That means Carlos Bocanegra will almost assuredly slide inside, partnering centrally with either Chad Marshall or Clarence Goodson. If I were guessing, I’d put big money on Marshall.

Bocanegra had this to say Friday about playing without DeMerit, in addition to losing Oguchi Onweyu to this match suspension due to yellow card buildup: "Obviously they are two big players for us, and when you lose guys, obviously, somebody else has to step up," Bocanegra said as he left training Friday at windy Rio Tinto. "But they are here because they can do a job, and we’re confident in them."

Actually, no one around the U.S. camp seems too worried about it all. The Americans are heavily favored.  They haven’t lost qualifier at home since 2001, and manager Bob Bradley has never lost a qualifier on U.S. soil.

So all seems to be going OK around the U.S. camp. Players talked about how they expect to see El Salvador sit back. A lot.

Landon Donovan was asked about the impending changes in the middle of the defense; he talked about how it won’t be a game where "we’re defending inside our 18 the entire game."

"They did a good job of countering us down there," Bocanegra said. "We don’t want to get over-anxious and over aggressive and leave ourselves exposed at the back. Because they do have some quick guys who can get at us if we get exposed at the back."

And what of DeMerit’s availability for Wednesday’s match at Trinidad and Tobago? He sounds iffy for that one, too, as the groin injury hasn’t responded as he would have liked.

"I picked up a little bit of a niggle, it got worse, and now we just have to make sure we do it right," DeMerit said of his recovery efforts.

I’ll have more on the match and the scene in Salt Lake early tomorrow.