SANDY, Utah — Justen Glad was a little nervous Saturday, but not necessarily because he was about to play first minutes with Real Salt Lake since May 23.
After meeting with head coach Pablo Mastroeni, when he told the manager he was ready “to play all 90” in a critical home match against St. Louis City SC and Mastroeni responded that a substitute’s appearance would be good enough for only the eighth time in his 285-match MLS career, the coach wanted one more thing.
How about you address the team before the game?
For the first time in five months, Glad made an appearance in an RSL uniform, replacing fellow center back Philip Quinton 15 minutes after halftime with a 3-0 lead while holding St. Louis to just two shots on target.
But rewind to that pregame locker room huddle: What did the former teenager who signed his first professional contract with Real Salt Lake out of the club’s then-Casa Grande, Arizona academy tell his teammates?
The usual stuff, he explained, like how it’s great to be back, to be part of a group with a common objective, and to see all the work that they had been putting in and have playoffs within reach.
“It was really just about tonight, and making sure we get the first win on the table,” he said. “That was basically it — with a couple more F-bombs.”
Same old J-Glad.
Whatever he said, it worked. Sergi Solans had a brace, Dominik Marczuk scored a wonder-goal, and Rafael Cabral made two saves to secure a shutout for the third time in 30 starts as RSL cruised to a 3-0 win over St. Louis to move within a point of the playoff line in the Western Conference.
The moment was special for Glad, not only because his boyhood club moved to within a point of ninth place in the West (pending LA Galaxy’s Sunday night rivalry match at LAFC) but because the center back hadn’t missed five months of playing since his youth soccer days — maybe as far back as when he was 4 or 5 years old.
For the past five months, which included Major League Soccer’s break during the FIFA men’s World Cup and the entirety of the club’s Leagues Cup quarterfinal run, Glad has been away from the team, trying to heal a pelvic injury that included a stress reaction and pubalgia while taking walks in the park with his dog George.
For several weeks, he’s returned to training but for all but the most recent sessions was unable to join the group due to his condition. So he pulled the bike outside the club’s training center to look down on his teammates on the pitch or ran laps with other injured teammates to try to regain his fitness.
“That’s always the worst part of being injured,” he said with the dry humor of 29 years of life experience, more than half of which included playing for RSL at some level.
“It was very, very frustrating,” Glad added. “A lot of days where I would come in, and it felt very repetitive. They’d do the groin test, the squeeze test, and it would feel exactly the same for weeks on end.
“I sat here wondering, is it going to get better? I feel like I’m going crazy. To be on the other side of that is a really good feeling.”
It also meant a lot to Salt Lake (11-14-6, 39 points) in chasing a playoff berth.
In a season that included a club-record 13-match winless skid in MLS play, RSL is beginning to find its form — and not a moment too soon.
Usually focused on keeping an eye on one match at a time, Mastroeni has been open with his assessment of the late season: Real Salt Lake probably needs to win out to make the postseason.
Of course, that means a focus on taking each match and each day as it comes. But with a 3-1 win at Sporting Kansas City and Saturday’s shutout win three days after St. Louis won a U.S. Open Cup title on penalty kicks, the results have worked out.
Another key road tilt looms Wednesday at Austin FC (6:30 p.m. MT, Austin TV) before a trip to San Jose on the weekend and the “Decision Day” home finale Nov. 7 against LA Galaxy (5 p.m. MT, Apple TV).
“I’ll back this group to be able to put their best foot forward against anyone,” Mastroeni said, “given the way we’re playing and the mentality that the group has.”
All the group can do is focus on the next game and the next day. Fortunately, that’s something that Glad has plenty of experience from this season while he watched the group from a distance or a suite above America First Field.
“He’s a leader of this team, even though he wasn’t starting,” said Mastroeni, who added Glad’s injury was a mystery to the club and medical staff while sending scans and consultations out to doctors in the Premier League and around the world. “He’s back in the fray, and I think it’s a big boost of confidence to this group.”
After one particularly hard workout, Glad felt good the next morning — a “light-bulb moment” signaling to coach and player that he could be ready to reintroduced himself to the group in training, and — as of Saturday night — in a competitive match, where he played alongside London-born Canadian international Luc de Fougerolles for the first time.
Glad reiterated that he was “ready to go 90” after the club recorded back-to-back wins in MLS play for the first time since May.
He’s not alone, either.
“I think the vibes are pretty good right now,” he said. “The team is playing well.
“Being in the league for so long, you see these slumps and hot streaks all the time. It’s just about getting hot at the right time. Hopefully we’re doing that.”
How long until his timeline lines up with the coaches and medical staff? To this, Glad smiled, took a side-eyed glance toward long-time RSL communications manager Trey Fitz-Gerald, and laughed.
“I’m chilling,” he said. “I’m good to go. I feel great … so whenever.”