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De Rosario named MLS Player of the Week… again

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Dwayne De Rosario has become the first player in three years to win the MLS Player of the Week honour twice in a row.

De Rosario won the voting from the membership of the North American Soccer Reporters for a hat trick against his former club, Toronto FC. De Rosario’s efforts allowed D.C. United to escape with a 3-3 draw despite the fact the team played a man down from the seventh minute onwards.

De Rosario won it last week for a two-goal performance against San Jose. Kenny Cooper, then with FC Dallas, was the last player to win two POTW honours in a row. That came in 2008.

Yes, the third goal of the hat trick came on a penalty, but there were other factors in play that added to the wow factor of De Rosario’s performance.

No. 1 on that list was the fact that De Rosario did it against Toronto FC, the club that dealt him away in the spring after a long and public squabble between the parties over alleged broken promises from the club, a trial at Celtic that may or may not have been greenlighted by the TFC brass ahead of time (depending on who you talk to) and a falling out with fans who gave the best player who has ever worn the Reds’ jersey the “MeRo” nickname.

So far this year, look at the pain De Rosario has inflicted on his former clubs. Scored the winning goal against the New York Red Bulls, had two against the San Jose Earthquakes and three against TFC. If all DeRo got was TFC, the Quakes, the Dynamo and the Red Bulls on the schedule, Roy Lassiter’s record of 27 goals in a season would be shattered.

There’s no doubting how dangerous De Rosario can be when his pride is wounded.

And, the second big factor is the fact D.C. United played with 10 men from the seven-minute mark, after keeper Bill Hamid made a ridiculous late challenge on TFC’s Eric Avila. Scoring a hat trick while a man down is a rare feat indeed.

How The 11 voted: For the second week in a row, The 11 had the Scarborough, Ont. native at the top of the list.

Eric Hassli, who scored twice and bagged an assist as the Whitecaps beat the Chicago Fire 4-2, got the second-place vote. Had Hassli converted his penalty chance, the voting would have been neck-and-neck. De Rosario would still likely have won because for the whole “getting back at the old boss” factor.

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