De Rosario earns POTW nod for yet another dominating performance vs. TFC

Dwayne De Rosario PHOTO: PAUL FREDERIKSEN

For the 10th time in his career, Scarborough’s Dwayne De Rosario has been named MLS Player of the Week. While there were a few two-goal performances around MLS this past weekend — New England’s Saer Sene and Sporting Kansas City’s Teal Bunbury come to mind — De Rosario’s brace against Toronto FC, which helped D.C. United to a 3-1 win over the winless Reds, was the one that got the judges’ attention.

Of the 20 votes cast by members of the North American Soccer Reporters, De Rosario got 18 of the first-place votes. And, of the two that didn’t give DeRo their first-place votes, he got the second-place votes out of them. So, his name appeared on all 20 ballots cast.

How The 11 voted: De Rosario. As we stated on the ballot, “De Rosario was dominant, outside of two goals. If De Ro only played his former teams he’d break Roy Lassiter’s scoring record three times over.”

Sene and Bunbury got their braces in draws, which hurt their causes. And one of Sene’s goals came on a penalty kick, which was the result of him being fouled right after a rebound fortuitously came to him in the penalty area.

But the story of DeRo facing a former team never gets old. Why? Because, so often, he makes a mark in those game. De Rosario, when he plays with a chip on his shoulder, is the most dangerous player in MLS. After being traded twice last season, he won an MVP. And, when he plays TFC — the team that dealt him to New York early last season after a contract dispute, bitter allegations from both sides and a trial at Celtic which he and his agent claimed they had permission to attend, while the Reds claimed otherwise — it’s never an ordinary match. By now, the questions asked by TFC fans isn’t if De Rosario will score against his old, hometown club. It’s how many.