Where are they now? Chris Schuler, Kenny Deuchar, and Gustavo Cabrera

A lot of players have spent time on Real Salt Lake’s roster over the years; some arrived with great fanfare, others merely a mere mention. Some showed promise, while others never saw the field.

Here’s a look at three more former players in our series Where Are They Now.

Chris Schuler

Schuler is a classic case of what could have been — and RSL seems to have had quite a few of those. He joined the team as one of our better draft picks back in 2010 as our third pick and the 39th overall that year. During his rookie year, he didn’t get much playing time for RSL and was loaned to AC St. Louis, then playing in the USSF Div. 2, for part of the summer.

His prospects took a positive turn the following year with 20 starts and 27 appearances across all competitions for RSL, as he became a sturdy backup for Nat Borchers and Jamison Olave on RSL’s back line. He earned a starting role a year later after Olave was traded to the New York Red Bulls, then the injuries started.

As one of the presumed starters in 2013, he only had 16 starts in league play when the team doctors found the start of a stress fracture. He recovered from it well and made a great bounceback for the team in 2014 with 25 starts and netting 3 goals. He even started attracting the attention of the USMNT coaching staff. Then it all fell apart late in the season in on a corner kick vs Chivas USA.

That collision with Borchers resulted in a skull fracture; in early 2015 he went down in the fifth game with a knee injury. Recovery stretched far beyond the expected time, and he was eventually released at the season end. Schuler remained in Utah, hoping to make a return to RSL by playing for the Real Monarchs during 2016. He did well enough for the Monarchs to warrant RSL taking another chance, and they re-signed him in mid-season.

He started only four games the rest of that year, and another 12 in 2017, but he never regained the spark, and he was released at the end of that year. Orlando City opted to take a chance that he could return to form, but once again it was not to be. He played just 10 games across all competitions for them and was released. He retired shortly afterwards.

Chris Schuler is now working for U.S. Soccer as an events coordinator. He has since organized viewing parties for the USWNT’s 2019 World Cup run, and victory tour.

Kenny Deuchar

Deuchar came to Utah as a player nearly unknown to the RSL fanbase — that wasn’t surprising unless you happened to follow Scottish Football, but there were many in Scotland did know his name — or by his pseudonym, “The Good Doctor”.

Deuchar got his start like many, playing youth football for a variety of teams. He continued playing part-time for Falkirk, then East Fife while attending college. After graduating in 2003, he put school on the back burner to focus on playing for Gretna FC, but he still kept a toe in the medical field studying rheumatology.

While at Gretna, he broke league records, scoring six hat tricks in one season, and leading the team from the Scottish third division to the Scottish Premier League in 4 seasons. In the 2004–05 season he even scored an unheard of 38 goals in 36 games.

However the team struggled in the SPL and Kenny’s time on the field shrunk. He asked for and received a loan to two separate lower-division teams, then MLS came knocking.

RSL signed both Deuchar and fellow Scot Ian Joy the same year. It was simply a chance of a lifetime to play against such well known players as David Beckham and Juan Pablo Angel. Kenny got his chance just six games into the 2008 season:

Unfortunately the style of play in MLS wasn’t quite what he was used to, and he wasn’t able to adapt. Kenny scored only three goals in 30 appearances for RSL, but those goals were enough to earn him a new nickname “Dr. Goals” which, in addition to “The Good Doctor,” stuck with him for the rest of his career.

He returned to Scotland after one season with RSL and continued playing until 2012, when he retired to focus on medicine. He did briefly return to the field in 2014 for a lifetime opportunity to play in the Medical World Cup — a competition where all the players must be from the medical field.

Dr. Kenny Deuchar is currently a medical General Practitioner in Scotland.

Gustavo Cabrera

Gustavo and his older brother Edy grew up playing soccer together in Guatemala. Both even joined same team, Comunicaciones FC in 1995; both played defensive positions, with Gustavo mainly in a center back role. In 2000, Edy moved on to a new team, while Gustavo soldiered on for another 4 years; he would eventually make 288 appearances and score 10 goals.

That caught the attention of the Guatemalan national team, and he started receiving regular call-ups starting in 2000.

Photo by AMA/Corbis via Getty Images

Real Salt Lake had him on their radar early in their first year, but they didn’t have the roster space or budget to bring him in. That would change by mid-season. Veteran U.S. national team defender Eddie Pope was away with USMNT duty, which didn’t help RSL’s defense. Problems were evident as the team went 3-4-9 in the first 16 games of the inaugural 32-game season.

Cabrera and Jamaican Robert Scarlett were brought in to try and shore up the leaking ship, as well as filling in for injuries and Pope’s call-ups for the Gold Cup.

“We have to keep working, because the managers of the MLS have treated me very well and I have to respond with results on the court. I feel very comfortable with my teammates. I am working hard and giving everything I can give,” he stressed.

Cabrera played only four games that year, but was brought back for 2006, but he was released by mid-season. He returned to his former team Comunicaciones and continued to receive regular call-ups for the Guatemalan national team; he would eventually be named team captain and make 104 appearances.

He left Comunicaciones following a salary free agency dispute and made the jump to Europe signing for AGF Aarhus in the Danish Superliga. He never played a match for the team and said later that the style of play didn’t suit him. Returning his homeland, he played for three more teams, finally ending up with Deportivo Marquense in 2012.

That was when events caught up with him. Guatemalan officials had started an investigation regarding possible match fixing of several international games. Cabrera and two of his fellow national team players were convicted of throwing 3 games, including one CONCACAF Champions League match. They were banned from playing in Guatemala for life, which FIFA extended worldwide 4 days later. I have not been able to find out where or what Cabrera is doing now, but one thing is sure: It doesn’t involve soccer.