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SANDY — Cole Grossman felt one thing after Real Salt Lake's 2-1 home win over the Colorado Rapids on Saturday evening: tired.
The 25-year-old midfielder had plenty of reason to be sore too. Grossman made his first start of the year, and first since a 1-0 win at Vancouver on Sept. 28, 2013. The 90-minute shift Saturday was also Grossman's first full-game outing since July 2012 when he was playing for the Columbus Crew.
With team captain Kyle Beckerman likely headed to the World Cup in Brazil with the U.S. Men's National Team, RSL will be looking to Grossman to grow up fast and transition into the role of a full-time starter.
So far, so good.
“I was excited to win. Three points is huge," Grossman said. "You know, we’ll take three points any way we can. I’m pretty excited, though I’m really tired. It was a great fight for all the guys, but I think we’re happy with three points.”
Though he didn't register much on the official stat page in Saturday's game, Grossman's work rate in the defensive midfield role did not go unnoticed — even as he was filling in for a club legend in Beckerman.
“Without question, I thought Cole had a really good game," fellow midfielder Ned Grabavoy said. "He’s a smart, intelligent player, and I think he’s really good in that spot for us."
Grossman earned only his fourth appearance of the 2014 season after missing time with shin splints. His 90 minutes more than doubled his playing time this season, which now sits at 139 minutes played.
RSL picked Grossman up in the 2012 MLS Waiver Draft after two seasons with Columbus. But the holding midfielder played in only four regular-season games a year ago while missing significant time with a concussion suffered March 23, 2013, against FC Dallas.
Fans would barely know from the way his head coach described him.
“I thought it was a great start to the game. I thought Cole Grossman had a really mature performance there," RSL coach Jeff Cassar said. "He really sat and held down the fort. He didn’t get caught out of position too much.”
Grossman knows there is plenty of room for improvement for him personally and for his team. Fitness is among the chief concerns after missing so much time with injury, but he has the support of his teammates.
"Cole’s a guy, for me, that’s a starter in this league," Grabavoy said. "He will become a starter in this league. He contributes a lot of minutes, and I think right now, for our team, it just takes younger players a little bit longer to break through things. It's how we do things here. It’s tough when you have very good veteran players in front of you."
Even though he's played less than 140 minutes, the team has scored five goals in his time on the field — or a goal every 27.8 minutes. He also scored a goal on only two shots in 2013, a late-game equalizer in a 3-3 draw at Portland on Aug. 21.
As his fitness improves, those numbers may go up, and that's not a bad thing for RSL.
"We’ve known for a long time that these guys were probably going to be in the World Cup mix," Grossman said. "This something we’ve been mentally preparing for a long time. It’s something I’ve thought about for a long time, including the offseason. I worked really hard to position myself for these games, and I think the guys have as well.
"I was hurting the last 10 minutes, but we hung on and got it done."
