For soccer players, there's really never a good time to break a leg, but Real Salt Lake defender Ritchie Kotschau knows from experience one of the worst times to break a leg.
It's the second-to-last game of the MLS regular season, when you're about to become a free agent and you're a nine-year journeyman defender. As if that scenario alone doesn't make finding a new employer difficult, getting selected in the expansion draft by a team with no real interest in your services drastically limits your flexibility as well.
It forced Kotschau, 31, to seriously contemplate retirement this past MLS offseason.
Fortunately for him and Real Salt Lake, Kotschau remained persistent and patient, and eventually an opportunity opened up for him.
"I'm just happy to be back playing," said Kotschau, who's played in three matches for RSL since signing a $69,300 contract on May 30.
"For me it took a while to find the right fit with a team."
Those months of frustration, not to mention the reality of not living in the same state with his wife and 2-year-old daughter, are all because of that stupid broken leg.
It all happened early last October. Having started 26 games for the Columbus Crew that season, his season was cut short a few games after breaking his leg. A month later Columbus left him unprotected for the expansion draft, but even more surprising was the fact that Toronto FC selected him.
"When I got picked up I'm not even sure if they knew I had a broken leg at the time," said Kotschau.
Despite several contract discussions over the telephone about his future with Toronto, the two sides never reached an agreement, and he was eventually released. Kotschau, who's played with four other MLS clubs prior to RSL, tried shopping himself to several other teams, but because he was still rehabilitating his leg he wasn't exactly a hot commodity.
Eventually his wife found a job in Denver, so she and the unemployed Kotschau packed their belongings and headed West.
In hindsight, his new home made for a very convenient lunch meeting with Real coach Jason Kreis back on May 10, the day RSL visited the Colorado Rapids for the ESPN2's Thursday night game of the week.
Kreis, who said he always respected Kotschau during his playing days, offered to give Kotschau a one-week trial with the team the following week. Kotschau didn't appear to be slowed by his broken leg at all during that trail, and within weeks he'd reached a contract agreement. After that, it was not long until he'd won the starting left back job from Willis Forko.
His Real Salt Lake career, however, did get off to a bit of a shaky start.
In the 81st minute of a match at New England on June 2, Kotschau was inserted into the lineup with the score level at 0-0. Fifty seconds later he was red carded, and fortunately for him the team hung on for that scoreless draw. It was the shortest debut in MLS history.
"I read the play, and I think it was just a matter of getting there a little too slow, but at the same time I think he turned his back at the same time I made contact with the ball, so it looked a bit from behind," said Kotschau. "I was surprised it was a red card to be honest, I'm not a dirty player."
Besides that incident against the Revs, Kreis has been pleased with Kotschau.
"I think he's been a very calming influence on the rest of the team," said Kreis. "He brings some very good leadership, some good communication, some good organization back there, and on top of that all, he's done a very good job of joining in on attacks and starting plays and being involved in plays from that left side."
Even though Forko's been demoted as a result of Kotschau's arrival, Kreis believe it's a good thing for the second-year pro, whom he believes could emerge as one of the best left backs in the MLS at some point in his career.
"He had a whole lot of responsibility heaped on him last year, and I look at those situations, you think it's great for the players, but I also feel it's a little unfair because they need time to really learn the game, and I don't think he really ever had a chance or an opportunity to do that," said Kreis.
With Kotschau around, it affords Forko that opportunity.
As for Kotschau, he's just happy to be playing soccer again.
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com