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Nine months and 24 days since his last competitive match, Chris Schuler finally returned to a starting lineup. The 28-year-old oft-injured center back made his Real Monarchs debut Saturday night in a start against Portland Timbers 2 at Providence Park seven weeks after signing a deal with Real Salt Lake's USL affiliate.

Schuler's previous deal with RSL expired after a year in which he played just five regular-season matches. Twice a year ago, Schuler underwent surgery that guaranteed his 2015 season to be the most frustrating of his career. Schuler underwent meniscus surgery in his knee in April that kept him out until July. Then, a few weeks later, he suffered a fractured navicular bone in his left foot that required surgery.

The timetable for the surgery, which occurred Aug. 31, featured a timetable of 4-to-6 months to full recovery. Before signing with the Monarchs, Schuler attended occasional training sessions as a guest player to complete his rehab work on his injured foot.

The start Saturday presented the next step in the organization's plan for the longtime RSL center back.

"The intention organizationally — there's no secret — is to get him healthy and get him back into the first team," RSL general manager Craig Waibel told the Tribune in March. "From a financial standpoint. going back to the salary cap, it's too much of a financial liability to help us keep improving the team in the meantime while we try and get him healthy."

Before the start of the Monarchs 2016 campaign in late March, coach Freddy Juarez said he wanted to give the 6-foot-4 center back time to adjust to his new role with his new team. That meant avoiding rushing Schuler back to game-day scenarios until he was completely ready.

"He's a player that will make a difference in the MLS, and we need to get him back to where he was," Juarez said. "And we think maybe a little bit better than what he was before."

Schuler's start in Portland was his first game action since helping RSL top the L.A. Galaxy in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals last July in Sandy. In his six seasons at RSL, Schuler started 72 matches. In 2014, he started a career-high 25 league matches.

ยป RSL lineup notes

Joao Plata returned to the RSL 18-man roster in Colorado, but is on the bench after missing the last two matches with a hip flexor strain. Jordan Allen, fresh off his goal and assist last weekend against Houston, started his third straight match up top in RSL's 4-3-3.

As expected, Jamison Olave and Justen Glad start in RSL's center of defense after Aaron Maund is out 2-to-3 weeks with a right hamstring strain. Defender Chris Wingert, on RSL's bench, is the club's lone back-up center back option against the Rapids.

-Chris Kamrani

Twitter: @chriskamrani