Meet The Players

Dwayne de Rosario

Dwayne Anthony De Rosario (also spelt de Rosario and commonly shortened to D-Ro by fans; born on May 15, 1978 in Scarborough, Ontario) is a Canadian soccer player, who currently plays as a midfielder and forward for Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer.

De Rosario began his professional career in 1997, signing with the Toronto Lynx of the A-League, where his future Canadian national team teammate Paul Stalteri had also just signed. Halfway through the season, however, De Rosario opted to change clubs, signing with FSV Zwickau of Germany. After two seasons with Zwickau, de Rosario opted to return to North America, signing with the Richmond Kickers in 1999. After a slow 1999 season, in which he registered a goal and five assists, DeRosario exploded in 2000, scoring 15 goals and five assists while leading the team to a 20-6-1 record.

The next season, when Canadian Frank Yallop was named head coach of the San Jose Earthquakes, De Rosario was one of his first acquisitions. De Rosario proved Yallop's judgment right, scoring five goals and four assists in only 1,072 minutes for the Earthquakes in 2001, playing an important role as the team went on to win the MLS Cup; he scored the golden goal in the final and was named MLS Cup MVP. De Rosario had similar success in 2002, registering four goals and eight assists in 1,637 minutes, though the Quakes fell short of a repeat. In 2003, a torn ACL hobbled De Rosario for much of the season but he still managed to make a late surge, registering four goals and three assists in only 686 minutes and helping lead the team to a second MLS Cup championship. De Rosario played 1,214 minutes in 2004, scoring five goals, including the 2004 MLS Goal of the Year, and three assists.

In 2005, with Landon Donovan's departure, De Rosario moved to midfield and promptly led MLS in assists with 13, while scoring nine goals, including the 2005 MLS Goal of the Year - the only player ever to receive that honor in two consecutive years - for a powerful bending free kick in the last regular season game against the Los Angeles Galaxy. He was named to the MLS Best XI. Due to San Jose's failure to reach a stadium agreement with AEG, Dwayne, along with the rest of his Earthquakes teammates, moved to Houston for the 2006 season.

During the 2006 MLS All-Star Game in Chicago, De Rosario scored the only goal of the game in the 70th minute to lift the MLS All Stars to a 1-0 win over Chelsea F.C., in what was a pre-season friendly for the London club. De Rosario was one of only four players on the MLS team to play the entire match.

De Rosario and the Houston Dynamo captured the 2006 MLS Cup title by beating the New England Revolution on November 12, 2006. The Dynamo won in a shootout, and De Rosario successfully converted his penalty kick. De Rosario signed a contract extension with Houston through 2010, where he is reported to make $325,000 per year.^[1]

The next year, De Rosario and the Dynamo repeated the feat by winning the 2007 MLS Cup, beating New England 2-1. De Rosario was named MLS Cup MVP, the first player ever to win the award twice.

According to a recent Toronto Star article, Dwayne told a media conference call that playing for Toronto FC one day is one of his goals.

National team

De Rosario is also an important player for the Canadian national team, playing either at forward or midfield, and has registered thirteen goals in 45 caps (as of January, 2008). He received his first cap May 18, 1998 against FYR Macedonia at the age of 20. He also played for the Canadian U-20 team in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship.

De Rosario was named Male Player of the Year by the Canadian Soccer Association in both 2006 and 2007.^[2]