Photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIphotos.com
The reigning MLS MVP and Golden Boot winner is going to be remaining in the nation's capital for the foreseeable future.
Dwyane De Rosario and D.C. United agreed to a contract extension on Monday, ending a long bout of negotiations that have been going on for the duration of the offseason. D.C. had maintained an option on De Rosario for this year, but both parties had made it clear that they wished to have a long-term agreement in place.
De Rosario, 33, is having his salary bought down with allocation money, so he will not count as a Designated Player on the team's roster, and the club will not be forced to pay the luxury tax for employing three DPs. Nevertheless, he will be D.C. United's highest-paid player, as his salary will top that of DPs Branko Boskovic and Hamdi Salihi. Length and exact figures of the deal were not disclosed by the club.
After joining D.C. late last June, De Rosario went on a tear, scoring 13 goals and adding seven assists. He finished with 16 goals for Toronto FC, the New York Red Bulls and D.C. last year to tie Chris Wondolowski for most goals in the league, but he won the Golden Boot by virtue of the assists tiebreaker.
What do you think of this development? Think DeRo can replicate his 2011 success with DCU? Think DCU will be a contender in the Eastern Conference this season?
Share your thoughts below.
Pontius average? Najar spotty? Salihi with a spotty resume? He had 36 goals in 67 games with over 25% of those games played as a substitute. The league is the Austrian league, but I fail to see how that’s spotty. There have been some players from Austria make an impact in MLS over the years. When Boskovic has been fit, he has played very, very well. Admittedly, that was for about 36 seconds. DC will score goals, they did last year. Improve the defense and you can expect a significant turnaround. Underestimate this squad at your own peril.
Just ignore people that put MLS down, they really have no clue and trying to educate is only going to frustrate……..but I think in this case he was just trying to spice it up.
I am enjoying the banter.
It is a pretty good team….for the Eastern conference.
None of those “observations” is even remotely accurate, with the exception of “you have an excellent young goalie.” You clearly just don’t like DCU and don’t want them to succeed. Get over it.
If he did fit and NY was winning, why in the world did they trade him? Why mess with the winning formula? They might not be the brightest front office in this league, but they would not be so dumb as to trade a player who fit their scheme and after being traded became the league’s MVP, would they?
+10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Exactly. I’d love to hear a similarly balanced breakdown of whichever team you support too. It might help to remember what role a fan plays to answer all those wondering where these high hopes and expectations are coming from…
I really don’t understand this almost insane level of optimism from DCU fans. Yes you have an amazing past. That is a given. But lets look at the individual pieces you are soooo proud of. New DP Hamdi, not terribly impressive resume and may take awhile to get acclimated. Boskovic…..do I really need to expand on this? Rarely healthy and certainly not DP worthy-an average level MLS’er, every team has a guy like this. DeRo is awesome. One of the best in the league. Pontius, meh, again just an average MLS’er. Najar is spotty but talented. Along with DeRo Najar is one of the bright spots. The defense is nothing to be proud of, and you have an excellent young goalie.
Add all those pieces together and you have a completely average MLS squad. I’d put them roughly on the same level as the Quakes. If DCU was out west they would struggle to escape the cellar. The East is weak, that is the ONLY chance DCU has at the playoffs. You’ll get to beat up on the sorry Revs, the inexperienced Impact and maybe gut out a match or two against the Crew and Phili. Time to take off the blinders. It’s natural to get your hopes up before the grind of the season starts, but those hopes should be at least a little bit grounded in reality
You do know that as a ‘semi-pro’ team, DCU managed to beat Vasco da Gama over 2 games (2-1 aggregate) to win the Copa Inter-Americana ?
Vasco was the Libertadores champion that year and went on to play Real Madrid in the
Intercontinenal Cup.
Are you an idiot, or do you just play one on the internet?.
I don’t know about next year, but DC should be really good this year.
He was making more than the DP minimum, but teams used allocation money to avoid designation.
TFC were better without DeRo? How do you figure?
2010: 35 pts in 30 games. Goal Diff of -8
2011 with DeRo 3 pts in 2 games. Goal Diff of 0
2011 w/o DeRo 30 pts in 32 games Goal diff of -23
Better in what way?
Rebellious no. 19 yes. After the Ecudor match Agudelo found himself on the U-23 team. Some of us who sat close to field and saw the effort he put in that game weren’t surprised. He quit running on a couple counters.
Rodgers is a vital micro-cosim like Lindpere. You definitely notice when they are gone.
RBNY failed to win games they should have with DeRo as well
Not in the slightest. The team used their allocation money to get his contract under the DP limit (which is now $350k). That’s what the money is there for. So, he gets to be their highest-paid player, and in a way that doesn’t break the team’s bank.
Philly will be towards the bottom of the east. Very few teams can survive the guttiing they went through
DCU has had a TREMENDOUS offseason. That said, I still need to see how Hamdi adapts to the league and his new team and how DC’s defense coalesces before I believe we are going to run roughshod over the East and, to a lesser degree, the West.
That said, I’m incredibly fired up. We are going to score some serious goals this year. Just need to keep the ball out of the back of our own net.
Butts in seats won’t be a problem.
Enjoy Eddie Johnson. He should be truly fantastic for you guys.
He did fit….NY was winning. It’s not all about stats.
Not a DP? Seems MLS is bending the rules for DC
Please, tell De Ro what team you support. Hell, tell Benny. Your not going to like what happens.
Exactly what issues does DC have?
They have one of the best offenses in the league (and brought in even more talent to go with it)and have taken steps to improve the quality and depth of the defense. The only problems will be NT callups, but Olsen brought in depth at every position, so I don’t think the dropoff will be that severe. They’ve done more to improve their overall roster than any team in the East and should be in the running for the top spot all season long.
*good?
Lol, I love the vitriol. Apparently a team that fielded a combination of Bolivian and US national team starters was not very good. Marco Etcheverry and Jaime Moreno in their primes would still be high class players in MLS. Further, Dero is far from the only reason we’re going to be good this season. I don’t know which expansion team you support, but have a little respect for the trailblazers of the league (DCU, Dallas, Col, LAG, NER, TB, KC, SJ, NY/NJ, CLB). Our 16 year histories matter and are the foundation of the league.
MLS 2012 Eastern Conference:
1. SKC
2. Toronto
3. D.C.
4. Chicago
5. NYC
6. Philly
7. Montreal
8. Houston
9. Columbus
0. Revoltin’
—
MLS 2012 Western Conference:
1. RSL
2. L.A.
3. Portlndia
4. Vancouver
5. Seattle
6. Dallas
7. San Jose
8. Chivas
9. Colorado
DeRo can’t solve the mess that is DC. They have way too many issues for one player to fix. DC can take comfort in the fact that they won a bunch of trophies back when MLS was a semi-pro league.
I agree that DeRo did not fit within Backe’s system. However, Henry is so versatile (he played well within so many different systems – e.g., Barca, Arsenal, France, NYRB) that he does not have to be pegged within a particular system to be successful. Henry is not the reason that DeRo was misused – Backe is. As for Agudelo, you have a good point about being patient with a 19 year old and not letting him to take the playing time for granted. However, Agudelo does not strike me as a dumb and rebellious youngster. Neither Klinsmann nor BB had problems with him in the national team and he did not come across as an arrogant person in the couple interviews I’ve seen. He needs to continue to develop his game, but he cannot properly develop unless he is getting more playing time. His development is more important to NYRB than anything that NYRB achieved last season. If he got more playing time last season, NYRB might have had to live with his mistakes and turnovers, but they might have also had moments of creativity and brilliance. Luke Rodgers is a stop gap and not the guy who NYRB should be building their future or present around. If Agudelo got more playing time last season, he would have been much further along this season and NYRB would have had a better chance to win the title this season.
Maybe you’ll get a few people to RFK this year.
For a second there, I felt bad but then I realized that my comments were more about what DeRo did while he was here and he didn’t really fit in. He is an MLS legend. But, he got those titles on sides that he was featured as the main attacking threat as opposed to Thierry Henry.
Agudelo will play more when he learns how to hold up the ball and greatly improve his passing game. For all I know he may have done a so while training at Stuttgart or Liverpool. I am glad Backe didn’t give in to pressures from a young, dumb and full of come 19 year who just wants to stand in the box shoot the ball.
Luke Rodgers is a more complete forward. He also gives the team an attitude that all the Classic winning New York Teams have had(Championship Knicks, most super bowl winning Giants Teams). The first step to a winning NY team is players everyone else hates.
Last year was not our year. But we saw the post season and had the chance to progress but fell short. With our added depth we can contend again this year.
Dude
DC might actually be good next year. Pontius, Salihi, DeRo, and Najar is a pretty impressive attacker corp. Maybe throw in Boskovic if he actually stays healthy too. This is how I see the east right now:
1. Phili
2. D.C.
3. SKC
4. NY
5. Chicago
6. Toronto
7. Columbus
8. Houston (I think they’re in for a bad year)
9. Montreal
10. Stinko’s (Revs)
DeRo’s beef with Toronto stems from the fact that their DP was overpaid, while producing infinitely less than DeRo did. He also was not the highest paid player on NYRB, but you cannot hold this against Red Bulls. Paying more to Henry actually makes sense since he is similar to what Beckham is – a true star player on the downside of his career that can put the fans in the seats. I don’t think that the salary was an issue for DeRo in NY – his departure had to do more with how the coach was using him on the field. In the hindsight the move to DCU worked out great for both DeRo and DCU.
Dude, DeRo has 4 MLS cups, which is 4 more than RBNY and Toronto have combined. He was also an MVP in two of those MLS Cup wins. As for CD being benched, he had more playing time with DCU than Agudelo with NYRB. DCU’s coach had better reasons to for keeping CD him on the bench toward the end of the season than a fat trash talking journeyman from West Midlands with a checkered criminal history in his home country.
+100 DCU takeover of SBI
+1
We’re baaaack! 🙂
Uhhhhmmmm 1998 CONCACAF Champions Cup Champions… I’d say that’ better than the QF’s dawg.
He won 2 titles with Houston so I am leery of the “better without” label, he might be better suited to some formations and spots than others, which I think is more about fit. As much as he wanted to be back in Toronto I don’t think he fit there. I think he’s perhaps more useful as one of the last links in an established, well-staffed concept.
That being said TFC has zero playoff history so maybe they should have built more to exploit what they had and less around some theoretical 433 concept they never seem to staff well enough. TFC has droves of loyal fans and still manages to rub them the wrong way with ticket prices and such. I don’t hold them up for much of anything but nice unis and full crowds.
And on NY I don’t know why that didn’t work either but again you’re talking about a team that’s not really gotten over the hump into lasting success.
I think DC looks like they are steadily building something and my only negative comment would be he has to get old sometime. But I think teams have been implicitly making that bet over the past few years, starting with Houston, and no one seems to time it right.
Don’t take it so seriously. He wanted to be a DP in DC also, and he essentially is, except the front office is doing a little fancy accounting to avoid a luxury tax, while paying DeRo the DP salary he deserves.
As far as TFC, I think they’ll make an impact in the CCL this spring. There front office has been making a lot of great moves.
This year will be a watershed year for the MLS as a whole.
DeRo has to be the best player on the team to have an impact. Looking at your roster last year and a first year coach(who kept Charlie Davies on the bench often)it seems only logical that he erupted on your side.
Some of his salary was paid by Toronto last season.
+1
Message to the rest of the league: Fear us.
He wasn’t a DP last year.
damn it. Wish Houston could have picked him up.
pretty sure he was making dp money last year too…or is $493,000 not DP money?
http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2011/09/de-rosario-hat-trick-paces-united-to-4-1-trouncing-of-rsl.html
That can be a good thing sometimes.
He wanted DP money which he is getting now with DC, along with being the highest paid player. I doubt he cares if he’s officially a DP or not as long as he’s getting the big paychecks.
TFC was better as a team without DeRo. Good riddance. He’s a one man show.
TFC succeeded to make the CONCACAF Champions League Quarter Finals…DC succeeded in doing better than that?
really because he wanted to be a DP in Toronto…and in DC he didn’t?
DC succeed where NY and TFC failed.