Dwayne DeRosario has been on fire in recent weeks for D.C. United, but what he did to Real Salt Lake this past weekend was jaw dropping, even by his lofty standards.
DeRosario scored a hat-trick AND added an assist in the first 31 minutes of play in Saturday's 4-1 mauling of RSL, giving him the league record for fastest hat-trick in MLS history and helping him earn his latest SBI MLS Player of the Week honor.
DeRosario also scored a goal in D.C. United's mid-week draw vs. Chivas USA, but it was his hat-trick on Saturday that sealed the weekly honors for him.
Here are the highlights from De Rosario's stunning performance, which helped him take the league lead in goals scored with 13.
DeRosario was the clear choice for Player of the Week in a strong field of candidates that included Juan Pablo Angel, Fredy Montero and Dane Richards, among others. Angel finished a close second, and could have easily been our pick after scoring braces in each of Chivas USA's matches this week.
What did you think of DeRosario's performance? Who was your pick for MLS Player of the Week this week?
Share your thoughts below.
The problem with your argument VADCUfan is that, while I saw no malice in Woolards foul, he does deserve to be vilified for the immature clumsiness of the challenge itself. While the other 21 players were coasting it out for the last couple of minutes of a 3 nil match, he (seemingly out of frustration) made a challenge in the middle of the pitch that just unnecessary in even attempting, and Mauro Rosales suffered the consequence of it.
I do understand your frustration with the Pontius injury. That one reminded me of Holdens injury against Man United. Both him and Lopes going 50/50 at a hospital ball, that had train wreck written all over it. If I’m not mistaken, that was also late in an already decided match. Again, I wonder what either of them were thinking if that was the case.
Right, one reckless challenge make the entire team a “bunch of hacks” :/
Ben, DCU was also missing Pontius, Davis, Jakovich, Quaranta, Boscovic, but you are not suggesting that they played their B-team. RSL has 13 players that make over 100K per year. Eight of them were on the field against DCU. Although the salary does not always equal production, good teams like RSL generally don’t pay big bucks to players with B-team talent. While RSL indeed had some B team players on the field against DCU, many of the same players were also on the field during thrashing of NYRB last week.
It was not a great challenge, but it was hardly a violent play. It is unfortunate that such an exciting player got injured, but apparently any time someone important gets injured people feel the need to vilify the perpetrator. We lost Pontius for the season to a similar clumsy challenge, but Lopes hardly deserved a red for his part in the play. Likewise we lost Boskovic to a bad challenge, but I just feel sorry for the NER reserve striker who will probably never start a league game in MLS, or come close to Boskovic’s skill and class. Just feel lucky he’s only out for a short time.
first things first – to be clear, I am an RSL fan and I think Dwayne should have been suspended for diving. That said, it was easily one of the best one-man performances I’ve seen in the MLS. Every shot, every movement, everything about his game that night was magic. I disagree with those that think RSL didn’t have a weekend squad (no Espy, Sabo, or Olave in the starting lineup plus Blake Wagner and Rauwshan McKenzie in your back line is a nasty recipe for disaster)… but lets be honest, with D-Ro playing the way he did I still think United would have won.
M”HYLDA”P-> most “how you like dem apples” player.
It was definitely a B-team from RSL. Of those who started, only Rimando, Borchers, Beckerman, Grabavoy, and Wingert have been consistent starters throughout the year. But both Wingert and Grabavoy are just coming off of injury and so haven’t been playing much the past month and a half; they’re definitely not up to speed yet. That makes 3 starters out of a possible 11. Alvarez has been a disaster all year. Saborio and Johnson came on late in the game. Warner, Alexandre, Paulo Jr., McKenzie, Gil, and Wagner are all B- or C-team players. Kreis rolled the dice with the B-team and got burned. It’s as simple as that.
The call could have gone either way. Soccer is a contact sport, but it is an infraction to push a player with your hands and the contact with hands does not have to be vicious to gain an advantage. Angel indisputably pushed DeRo in the back with his hands (however slightly), which disrupted DeRo’s positioning and timing. DeRo had no chance on the ball and did the smartest thing possible by going down in the box and selling it to the ref. Even Angel, who fouled him, did not call it a dive – just a soft call and that said that DeRo did a good job selling it to the ref. It was a soft penalty, but Angel’s hand clearly pushed DeRo in the back before he went down in a dramatic fashion. Not enough in the league’s disciplinary committee’s mind to merit a suspension and I happen to agree with the league on this one. If Angel did not use his hands or there was no contact at all, the league could have gone a different way.
he really almost needs to be, just shocking that it could be a guy who played for 3 teams in the same year.
Dax is a poor man’s version of Tainio, and we already have Tainio. In short, he is redundant when Tainio is healthy, would rather have a more attacking minded partner (hmm).
Dax did have a good came against portland though.
Rimando’s look was hilarious. It reminded me of pickup hoops when some dude is just so dialed in he’s making every ridiculous shot and you whoop it up. Sucked for RSL, but it is nice to see some joy and camaraderie in the game.
No, the rest are hacks, see the Woolard 90th minute hack and injury to Rosales with the outcome of that game (3 nil) long since decided!
lol come on dude I said “orchestrated/started by a stellar pass/ move”….NOT ASSISTED…LOL. Glad you like De Ro (you’re right thats his only down fall he chooses the games to perform…but when he does he’s unstoppable)
LOL freddino…Davies’s hat trick was all set up by Pontius, not DeRo…
I do like DeRo, but he seems to pick and choose the games he decides to play hard in. It’s a shame Mauro Rosales got injured, he is the most exciting player in MLS and also takes far more of a beating than DeRo does.
Wasn’t Saborio a little bit offside on that last goal???
Keeping it in perspective. Nice. Hey New York hows Dax McCarty working out?
You’re right about that. RSL has a 1.5 divers in Saborio and Fabian Espindola but they are not a team of divers. However as an RSL fan it still burns me that Davies stole pts from RSL in their first match by diving to earn a penalty.
And then he was fined but not suspended. Then Saborio dives for a penalty and is hit with a two game ban + the fine. Is Saborio the only player in MLS to be suspended this year for diving?
@Shark, while I understand you being ired at jasons comments, I agree with malkin. There’s really no reason to be compelled to sharing your military résumé on a soccer forum over a snide comment.
@Eurosnob, DeRo certainly did deserve a suspension for that pathetic dive. If the contact you are refering to had any impact whatsoever of that dive, than I guess soccer will never be considered a contact sport. All that said, DeRo was able to play and nobody can take away from the quality of all three of his goals.
You’re right about that. RSL has a 1.5 divers in Saborio and Fabian Espindola but they are not a team of divers. However as an RSL fan it still burns me that Davies stole pts from RSL in their first match by diving to earn a penalty.
And then he was fined but not suspended. Then Saborio dives for a penalty and is hit with a two game ban + the fine. Is Saborio the only player in MLS to be suspended this year for diving?
DC has been shafted by countless calls over the years. 10 more years in the league and RSL will be able to have dealt with just as many. Your team is rock solid and in the playoffs. Give it a break. DeRo had an incredible game! Hats off. As for NY fans… HAHAHAHAAA!!