With Dwayne De Rosario’s recent crowning as the MLS Most Valuable Player, three things have become even clearer about the mercurial and talented Canadian soccer superstar.
The first is that, contrary to many of his detractors, the 33 year old is far from over the hill as a player or even looking like someone whose decline is in sight. At an age when most players start losing a step, De Rosario looks very much to be one of those rare players who through good genetics and simply taking exceptional care of his body is actually getting better with age.
If you had a chance to watch David Beckham play very well in winning his first MLS Cup on Sunday at age 36, you probably had a more than decent chance of seeing a preview of the type of impact player that Dero could still be over the next three to four years of his career.
The second obvious thing to consider about De Rosario is that he must own the biggest trophy case of any Canadian athlete not named Wayne Gretzky. To put it mildly, his list of accomplishments as one of the greatest all-time MLS players is very lengthy.
At the club level, he has won the MLS Cup four times and was also part of a San Jose Earthquakes side that captured the Supporters Shield back in 2005.
In terms of individual honours, in addition to his MVP and Golden Boot awards this year, De Rosario has been named to the MLS Best XI six times, has been the MLS Cup Most Valuable Player twice and has won to the MLS Goal of the Year Award in both 2004 and 2005. He has also won the Canadian Championship twice with Toronto FC.
In terms of his accomplishments at the International level, De Rosario has won a CONCACAF Gold Cup and a CONCACAF U-20 Championship. He has also been named Canadian Player of the Year three times and certainly has to be the odds on favourite to earn that honour again for the 2011 calendar year. Furthermore, his most recent goal for the Canadian national team has tied him as Canada’s all-time leading scorer with Dale Mitchell and, short of an unexpected career ending injury (knock on wood), it is a certainty that De Rosario will take over sole possession of that distinction in 2012.
With so many individual and team accomplishments to his credit, the third thing that is clear when taking into the account the career of De Rosario is that there is only one thing missing from his Curriculum Vitae: an appearance at a World Cup.
While there is no doubt that De Rosario will go down as one of Canada’s all time greatest soccer players, if there is one thing that separates him from a player like Landon Donovan, it is that thus far the Toronto native has been unable to lead his national team to the World Cup. Thus, it doesn’t really need to be overstated that he can greatly enhance his legacy by playing an important role in Canada qualifying for Brazil 2014. However, it should be stated for the record that an achievement such as that would not only be the perfect way to cap off a genuinely remarkable career, but also the ideal way to silence his critics.
After all, De Rosario is not only one of Canada’s best all time players, he just might be the Canadian player who most divides the opinions of a large number of Canuck soccer fans and pundits. While some support him unequivocally due to his multitude of achievements, considerable talent and flair for scoring fantastic goals, others view him as an enigmatic player due to the famous cheque signing incident with Toronto FC and his falling out with the aforementioned Mitchell, who was his national team coach during Canada’s previous unsuccessful World Cup qualifying run.
Interestingly, a recent perusal of the blogosphere and the TFC-related message boards has shown that the announcement of the first Canadian MLS MVP has not been as universally celebrated by all Canadian soccer fans as you would have expected.
Thus, while time doesn’t always heal all wounds, a World Cup qualification with De Rosario leading the way probably would. And by leading the way, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the attacking midfielder has to put the team on his back and score all of the goals or even wear the captain’s armband as he has in Canada’s recent fixtures. Instead, De Rosario should look at this current World Cup qualifying run as the culmination of his entire career; something from which he can fully utilize all of his past experiences – both positive and negative – towards the betterment of the entire national team as an elder statesman and a selfless sage.
A De Rosario who would be able to fully subvert his ego by coming off the bench in a ferocious manner or just doing whatever it takes to win against some serious CONCACAF opposition could set the right "team first" tone that a squad such as Canada will need to embrace if it is to end its twenty-five year absence from the World Cup.
This isn’t to say De Rosario hasn’t been doing some of these things under Stephen Hart already. He’s been capped 65 times by Canada and generally always leaves it all on the field. Nor would I ever suggest that the Canadian superstar was anything less than fully motivated during previous qualifying campaigns. However, for this round he now has a greater wealth of experience that he can draw upon and reflect on towards his playing a key part in Canada getting it right this time around.
Ultimately, the call for more from De Rosario, as a player who has delivered some remarkable performances in big games over the course of his career, is simply a reflection of the fact that Canada faces an uphill battle to qualify for the World Cup. As a mature player with skill, experience and a proven ability to raise his game when he wants to make a point, De Rosario has it within him to provide even greater positive characteristics with respect to both his play on the pitch and his intangibles off of it.
The current MLS MVP has pretty much achieved everything there is to achieve in a fantastic playing career. In the short term, at the club level he is undoubtedly just the right player to lead a once proud D.C. United squad back to prominence in the United States capital. But in terms of his overall long term legacy, there is really only one more thing for him to achieve.
De Rosario has already won over Thierry Henry with his genuine quality and pedigree. Taking not only his game, but his strategic leadership, experience driven performance and humbleness in the face of a gargantuan task to another level for Canada’s current World Cup qualifying run would allow him to fully cement his place in Canadian history and maybe even reunite diehard Dero supporters with those that still hold his perceived past indiscretions against him.
After all, the main reason to question whether or not De Rosario can do something is because it usually incites exactly that type of environment in which he often turns expectations on their head and with a chip on his shoulder gets the job done in a manner in which few others can.
Steve Bottjer is a Toronto-based writer, podcaster and editor for RedNation Online, on online magazine covering all aspects of Canadian soccer. Follow RedNation Online on Twitter.