Kotschau back on field after breaking leg in '06

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.