Dwayne De Rosario never reached the promised land of the Premier League, but he left his mark on Jose Mourinho's Chelsea and was close to a move to Blackburn.
“Jose Mourinho wasn't happy,” began Dwayne De Rosario, recalling a time when a goal he scored infuriated the combustible manager.
It was the 2006 MLS All-Star Game. chelseathe current back-to-back Premier League champions faced off against a selection of the top talents in American soccer at Toyota Park near Chicago.
In the days before David Beckham crossed the Atlantic, MLS was fighting for global recognition as a respectable competitive environment. The match against Mourinho's Chelsea was an opportunity to further that cause with the support of Roman Abramovich's recently signed multi-billion dollar Andriy Shevchenko.
Although it was an exhibition game, Chelsea fielded a strong lineup including Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, John Terry and Shevchenko. They were expected to dominate their inferior opponents. MLS stars could hear Mourinho shouting at his players in the visitors' locker room after Del Rosario's 20-yard flurry in the 70th minute was the only goal of the game. Ta.
“Those players weren't happy after the loss,” De Rosario continued. “Signing with Chelsea was big news worldwide.
After the match, Shevchenko and Michael Essien exchanged jerseys. They're players you respect, but it's a competition. They're competing. There is no time to praise the players. You have to play and showcase your talent.
Throughout his 13 years in MLS, De Rosario earned a reputation as a great goal scorer (he won the MLS Goal of the Year award twice) and a talent for finding the back of the net in big games. It is said that he had it. In his first season in the league, he scored the winning golden goal in the MLS Cup final for the San Jose Earthquakes. He also scored in the 2011 All-Star Game against Manchester United. The penalty he scored against West Ham in 2008, which won the All-Star team's game, is one goal he remembers particularly fondly.
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“It was great because it happened in my hometown, Toronto,” says De Rosario. “Toronto FC was just beginning its journey to Major League Soccer. I was born and raised in Scarborough, just outside of Toronto, and to be able to play against a European powerhouse again in that environment felt like a dream come true.'' Juan Pablo It was a great feeling to play with players like Angel, Cuauhtemoc Blanco and David Beckham and to score against West Ham.
A four-time MLS Cup champion and league MVP in 2011, De Rosario is remembered as one of the greats in North American soccer. In 2021, he was named one of the 25 greatest players in MLS history. However, he had trials with Nottingham Forest and Blackburn in the mid-2000s, and twice came close to cutting short his stay in America to pursue his ambitions to play in the Premier League.
Without the high asking price demanded by MLS (because the league owns player contracts), De Rosario's situation could have been very different.
“I always had a keen eye for exploring the European market when going to MLS,” he says. “The Premier League was one of the leagues I was looking at. It was a great opportunity to go to Nottingham Forest. I went there and did well. The league was asking me for a lot of money. However, that failed as Nottingham Forest did not want to pay.
It was the same at Blackburn. I was at Blackburn when Mark Hughes was the coach. Hughes called me in the office and said, “Listen, we really like you and think you can bring something special to the table, but at that rate you're not going to get another Wales.'' I remember saying, “I have an opportunity to sign a player.'' That was Craig Bellamy.
This was not De Rosario's first experience in European football. It wasn't even his worst situation. In 1997, when he began his professional career, MLS was only a year old, so it didn't factor into his plans. He moved to Germany at the age of 18 and joined FSV Zwickau in Germany's second division. Two difficult seasons followed, but he returned to North America stronger with experience and ready to make his mark in MLS.
“I played in Germany for two years and already came as a professional,” he says. “Leaving Germany was a great experience.
It wasn't an ideal situation. I had to deal with racism. I had to deal with a new coach coming in and not needing me. I moved back to North America and was looking for my next step. He was then able to play in the USL with the Richmond Kickers. When I came back from that, I was like, “Okay, how can I get into MLS?''
I used the Richmond Kickers, who were affiliated with DC United, as a stepping stone to MLS. Thankfully, it worked. I went to DC United for preseason and they wanted me before the San Jose Earthquakes. But at the time, Frank Gallop was an assistant coach before taking the head coaching job with the San Jose Earthquakes, and the rest, as they say, is history. He told me he wanted me to get the head coaching job and make me one of the first players they signed. That's how it all unfolded.
Thus began one of the most decorated MLS careers in league history. De Rosario returned in 2014 as a seven-time All-Star. He had 109 goals and 82 assists in 367 games across spells with San Jose, Houston, the New York Red Bulls, DC United, and his hometown club Toronto FC.
“I’m very proud of what I was able to accomplish,” he says. “I'm very proud to be able to give back to the league that has given me so much.
This is now a place for children to demonstrate their skills and play with passion and love in their own backyard. As adults, we had to go across the pond to Europe to make that dream come true. Now players like Lionel Messi are here, like Thierry Henry, who I played with in New York. Seeing them come here, even they are surprised at the level of the league.
And the foundation he laid is now supporting the next generation of de Rosarios.
“My kid is playing for TFC now,” De Rosario says. “My other son plays in the Seattle Sounders academy. My other son could potentially play in the Inter Miami academy.
Knowing that I helped build this league into what it is today, and that I am now a proud father and proud fan of the game, is humbling, but extremely rewarding. It's a feeling.