Houston Sports - Dwayne De Rosario

Dwayne De Rosario

Born: May 15, 1978

Sport: Soccer (7-time All-Star, 6-time Best XI, MLS MVP, MLS Golden Boot, 4-time MLS Champion)

This week the World Cup began, and it's already catching the imaginations of many here in a country that never seems to have embraced the most popular sport in the world.  In sharing hosting duties with Canada and Mexico, the United States is acting in the role for the first time since 1994.  Here in the Houston area, we had our very first game today and will be the site of an additional six by the time the tournament wraps up next month.  Although the city's history with professional soccer is relatively short, one star for our local team can act as an ambassador and host for many of the cities where games will be played.  Dwayne De Rosario is a native of Ontario, Canada, and competed for numerous MLS clubs during his career, including Houston, Toronto, New York, and San Jose - all metro areas that will welcome international guests watching their nation's team vie for supremacy in "the beautiful game".  Let's get to know his story.

Robertson Stadium at UH was home for the Houston Dynamo from 2006-2012

Born as one of three sons to immigrants from Guyana named Tony and Carol, Dwayne De Rosario's story began in the suburb of Scarborough, Ontario.  Tony De Rosario had lived for a while on the island of Jamaica and adopted the Caribbean style of soccer, the game he embraced by participating as a coach and referee, as well as by teaching his sons to play at early ages.  Dwayne was playing on a team before he was even four years old, and his skill developed to the point that he was recruited by A.C. Milan at the age of 14.  Not ready to move to Europe, De Rosario turned down the offer and instead chose to attend school at Scarborough's Winston Churchill Collegiate Institute.  He nearly became a sad statistic during his teenage years, as growing up in a rough part of town nearly cost him his life.  De Rosario almost ended up as a drug dealer before he found himself in a friend's basement as a teenager with a gun pointed at his face.  The assailant pulled the trigger and although there was no bullet in the gun, a packed mixture of dirt and nails flew into De Rosario's eye, tearing his retina and causing vision issues that would bother him for his entire career.  Fortunately soccer was a better option than a life of crime on the streets and he signed with the Toronto Lynx in 1997 at the age of 18, marking his professional debut.  He didn't stay long, however, as midway through the season he made the jump to Germany's FSV Zwickau.  Learning the European style of play helped develop his game but he had to deal with a significant amount of overt racism as one of the few non-white players, and after two years he returned to North America to play for a second-division professional team in Virginia, the Richmond Kickers.  Despite not performing well in his first season, De Rosario heated up in 2000 with 15 goals in 27 matches.  When a Canadian named Frank Yallop took the reins as head coach of the MLS San Jose Earthquakes, one of his first moves was to bring in his young countryman De Rosario, giving him his first shot at top-tier competition.

A strong inaugural season by Dwayne De Rosario proved his coach's trust was well-placed, and although the young man played fewer minutes than many of his peers he was instrumental in his team's success.  Working their way into the postseason with the best record in franchise history, the Earthquakes were led on the field by Landon Donovan all the way to the MLS Cup Final against the Los Angeles Galaxy.  In a hard-fought match it was De Rosario who scored a golden goal by beating his defender one-on-one and powering a shot past the fingertips of LA's goalie into the net, winning the championship for his side in sudden death overtime.  He won the MLS Cup MVP award, a stunning accomplishment given his age and teammates.  The Earthquakes were not able to repeat in 2002 and De Rosario's torn ACL kept him out of much of the action in 2003, but he was able to return late in the year and contribute to the franchise's second MLS Cup.  The 2004 season marked the beginning of his rise as an individual star as De Rosario was honored with the MLS Goal of the Year, and then the following season he became the first player to win the award consecutively.  The 2005 season also marked the departure of his teammate, Landon Donovan, which moved De Rosario to the midfield position and resulted in dramatically increased offensive output.  He was named to the MLS Best XI, a list of the league's 11 top players, and was also named as Canadian Player of the Year.  De Rosario had become a legitimate star in the rising league, and he was about to become the face of a new franchise.

In advance of the 2006 season, the San Jose Earthquakes were unable to come to terms with the city on a new stadium situation and opted to move Dwayne De Rosario and his teammates to Houston.  The league determined that the name, uniforms, a team records would not transfer, so the new franchise became known as the Houston Dynamo.  Alongside teammate Brian Ching, De Rosario made their inaugural campaign a memorable one as they charged through the season into the playoffs and defeated the New England Revolution in a shootout.  De Rosario was honored individually with his first All-Star selection, his first in a string of seven consecutive years being named to the team, as well as his second selection to the Best XI.  In 2007 the player and the team were able to match their achievements, with the Dynamo once again defeating the Revolution for the MLS Cup and De Rosario earning not just All-Star and Best XI honors but also MLS Cup MVP in recognition for assisting on the game-tying goal and then scoring the winning goal.  He was the first player in MLS history to win the award twice, but it would ultimately represent the final championship of his career.

After playing for the Houston Dynamo for the first three years of their existence, Dwayne De Rosario was traded halfway through his four-year contract to his hometown Toronto FC.  As the team had only existed for two seasons prior to his arrival, De Rosario quickly became the franchise's all-time leading scorer.  As the primary scoring threat and a hometown product, De Rosario was a crowd favorite for a franchise that boasted strong attendance in spite of mediocre results.  It was somewhat unexpected, therefore, when shortly after the start of the 2011 season the team traded him to the New York Red Bulls.  After spending less than three months there, he was once again traded and found himself playing for D.C. United.  The sudden shifts may have been jarring, but De Rosario responded by recording 13 goals in his 17 games to wrap up the season en route to being named the 2011 MLS MVP and winning the MLS Golden Boot for the league's top scorer.  In 2012 he scored his 100th MLS goal, becoming just the seventh player ever to reach the milestone, and also recorded his 20th international goal for Team Canada to become the nation's top scorer.  After the following season he returned home to play for Toronto FC once again in 2014, which turned out to be his final MLS campaign.  De Rosario announced his retirement prior to the 2015 season and to this day he remains one of the top 10 scorers in league history.  He has since been inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame (2019) and the Canada Sports Hall of Fame (2022), while also being admitted to the Order of Ontario (2020).  His DeRo Foundation has been in action since 2014, focused on helping young people like him who find themselves struggling in inner cities, and alongside his youth soccer development academy known as DeRo TFC keeps him involved in his community.  Although his marriage of 20 years ultimately ended in divorce both of his sons, Osaze and Adisa, are professional soccer players as well.  Today, De Rosario is a motivational speaker and FIFA World Cup Ambassador, and can likely be found cheering for Team Canada as they try to advance through this year's group stage and into the elimination rounds.

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