Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/USA TODAY Sports
By RYAN TOLMICH
After 14 MLS seasons, 104 goals and four MLS Cups, Dwayne De Rosario has officially called it a career.
The 36-year-old announced his retirement via an Instagram post Sunday while revealing his new role as an ambassador for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, owners of Toronto FC.
De Rosario’s career spanned 18 seasons, the best of which came in MLS. A member of the San Jose Earthquakes, Houston Dynamo, Toronto FC, New York Red Bulls and DC United throughout his career, De Rosario retires as the league’s sixth all time leading goalscorer.
The midfielder retires having been named to seven MLS All-Star teams and six Best XIs, while also earning honors as 2011 Most Valuable Player for a season that saw the Canadian score 16 goals and provide 11 assists.
In addition, De Rosario retires as Canada’s all-time leading goalscorer with 22 goals in 81 appearances while also being a part of the Canada team that claimed the 2000 Gold Cup, the only in the team’s history.
Starting his career with the Toronto Lynx, FSV Zwickau 12, and Richmond Kickers, De Rosario began his time in MLS as a member of the San Jose Earthquakes. Scorer of the golden goal that clinched the Earthquakes the 2001 MLS Cup final, De Rosario was named Most Valuable Player in his first of two MLS Cups in San Jose.
De Rosario continued with the team upon relocation to Houston, collecting two more MLS Cups in 2006 and 2007, the latter of which saw the midfielder score another championship-clinching goal. De Rosario then moved to Toronto, for whom he retires as the club’s all-time leading goalscorer with 28.
Stints with the New York Red Bulls and D.C. United soon followed before De Rosario returned to Toronto FC in 2014, scoring one goal for the club in his final campaign.
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What is your favorite De Rosario memory? Where does he rank among the league’s best players?
Share your thoughts below.
If only he was American… that midfield lineup of donovan, dero, and Dempsey would have been awesome, the 3 d’s, oh well
Can we get possibly a little more content on this post rather just putting the instagram picture into 5 paragrpahs? how did he come to the decision to retire? Based on following him on instagram it seems like this may not have been entirely his choice… he was still working hard on staying in shape in offseason. Was it an injury setback that sealed the deal? Was the ambassador role too good to pass up?
Next time might as well just put a link to his wikipedia page…
(Disclaimer: This post will likely be deleted, as usual when an honest assessment is given)
There’s a lot to be desired, in terms of original in-depth content and reporting, since Ives left.
Often, it’s the exact same story written from 4 different perspectives (and often only about the Northeastern clubs/NY clubs). Look no further than the front page where we have 4-5 articles about the exact same match by 4-5 different SBI contributors – every Monday.
Ives Left? When did that happen? Where did he go? How did I miss it?
Ives did not “leave”. He took on another gig at Goal.com which is more like his “day job”. He still posts here from time to time, and he still owns the site, as far as anyone is aware.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of extremely demanding people on this site who like to complain about the quality of things they don’t pay a dime for. These folks seem believe that the site has millions and millions in revenue and is staffed by full-time writers on full salaries, who are there to serve their beck and call.
You’d think they might leave, but instead they just stay and complain until they get banned. And then they beg for re-instatement using weird stories about public computers (sound familiar, Old School?). Then it’s back to complaining.
If you lazy bums want to learn more about Dewayne DeRosario, spend a few more mouseclicks and scan the oodles of free content about him all over the internet.
Unbelievable, the laziness of modern Americans.
Yea. Crazy to think that a news site should actually deliver news and not just regurgitate headlines from other sources. “Reporters” are supposed to have connections and leads and access to information that is not available to the general public. Hence why they have a job.
If you’re not going to deliver valuable content, why post at all? It takes away from the overall quality of the site, which sometimes has actual, in-depth, good articles.
Oh and get off your high horse. If you like doing your own digging so much, start your own site. Maybe i’d pay to use that one.
oh and I don’t need to learn more about DeRo. I wanted to know more about this specific topic, which there is not “oodles of free content” about. Hmmm, sounds like a perfect place for a “journalist” to provide a service.
Thank you DeRo. Always entertaining.
Funny DeRo story: A friend’s father got me a ball autographed by the US and MLS players who attended Soccer Night in Newtown, the big fundraiser for the victims of that travesty. DeRo’s signature is very prominent on the ball, right next to the USSoccer logo. Canada’s finest on a US ball, makes me smile every time I see it…
DDR was an amazing player. Just so good.
Landon Donovan is the greatest American player to have played in the league.
Dwayne DeRosario is easily the best Canadian to have played in this league. The guy was money in his prime. Good luck Dwayne!
Technically, Landon Donovan is the greatest Canadian player of all-time.
Don’t understand the reference, old school…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landon_Donovan#Early_life_and_education
Add this to the wiki page…
Donovan denounces his Canadian heritage and claims he is All-American!