Dwayne De Rosario had to pack up his things and move his young family from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast. He wasn’t sure what to expect.
De Rosario and his teammates were headed from San Jose to Houston for the club's first-ever MLS season in 2006. They knew it was hot and there was an eager fan base, but would they embrace DeRo & Co.?
“The question we had of how we would be received was answered very quickly by the support we received when we relocated,” he recalled to MLSsoccer.com this week.
“The community was backing us, very behind us. At first we created quite a stir with the name Houston was going to be called, and that’s when I think we realized, ‘Hey, there’s a fan base here!’”
Legends reunited
Many of those same fans will again cheer De Rosario, Brad Davis, Stu Holden, Brian Ching and other club legends – and even play alongside some of them – during the Dynamo’s Season 20 celebrations this weekend.
In addition to Dynamo alumni signing autographs ahead of the current squad’s home match against Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday (8:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass), Dynamo greats will be playing 5v5 with fans earlier in the day at the Discovery Green park space a stone’s throw from Shell Energy Stadium.
Once the Dynamo name and color scheme were settled, it was easy for the Space City to fall in love with their new neighbors. DeRo assisted four Ching goals in a 5-2 win in the inaugural game. Both players ended the year with 11 regular-season goals and converted their penalty kicks in a shootout win that saw the team lift the first of two consecutive MLS Cup trophies during their first years in South Texas.
De Rosario scored and was named MVP of the 2007 MLS Cup Final. He added those trophies to the two he’d won with the Earthquakes in San Jose and played one more season with the Dynamo before a move to hometown club Toronto FC. De Rosario remains friends with many of the fellow Dynamo alumni he’ll see again this weekend, saying the transition from California to Houston made them come together.
“I think the unknown of moving to Houston brought us stronger together, not only as players and a unit but as a family. When you create that atmosphere, it’s a very tough team to beat,” he said.
“To accomplish what we accomplished in those early years was truly a testament to everyone buying in, giving their all for each other and the badge.”
Full-circle moment
While DeRo, Ching and Holden often grabbed attention on the Dynamo teams of old, Pat Onstad was a constant presence at the back. Now the Dynamo’s president of soccer, the former goalkeeper is getting his due with the club giving away a bobblehead of Onstad in the pose he struck after saving the fifth and final penalty in the 2006 MLS Cup shootout.
Seeing his former teammate hold a key front office position in Dynamo is “a full-circle” moment for De Rosario, who not only enjoyed triumphs with Onstad at the club level but also with the Canada national team. DeRo and Onstad were part of the squad that lifted Canada’s last trophy, the 2000 Concacaf Gold Cup.
Twenty-five years later, Canada again seem to be on the precipice of something special in the men’s game, but are still seeking the first major trophy since that continental championship.
“Listen, it’s not an easy feat. It was a very difficult Gold Cup,” De Rosario said, highlighting the quality of guest teams Colombia, Peru and South Korea plus defending champion Mexico and a legendary Trinidad and Tobago team that was six years away from qualifying for the World Cup.
“That was a great era of football and to have won it at that time was something special for us as individuals and the growth of the sport in Canada and the recognition to help push the game to the next level.”
Canada World Cup hopes
With Toronto and Vancouver hosting World Cup matches in 2026 and the men’s team having an unprecedented number of men’s players getting minutes at top teams in MLS and abroad, De Rosario is among the many Canadians bullish on the chances of head coach Jesse Marsch adding to the trophy case – even after falling short to Mexico in a Concacaf Nations League semifinal.
“We showed lots of qualities but Mexico is showing they have that little bit of extra ‘umph’, the bite, the fight, the quality it takes to see the same out,” De Rosario said. “I think we’re getting there, and I know Jesse Marsch is trying to get the players to understand that little bit of extra grit we need to win. To win trophies, you’re going to need that.
“It’s good that we have the technical ability, it’s good we have the football IQ but now you need that extra bit of fire in your belly to see games out, especially when you’re playing against countries like Mexico.”
Family ties
It may not be long before another De Rosario is helping Canada’s efforts, with De Rosario transitioning from soccer player to soccer dad for his four children. Older son Osaze scored Tuesday for the Tacoma Defiance in a US Open Cup defeat to the Portland Timbers and is a Guyana international.
His two younger sons both became goalkeepers – “hanging around Pat Onstad’s house too much in Houston,” Dwayne quipped – with 20-year-old Adisa signing a Toronto FC homegrown contract in February and 13-year-old Tinashe also looking to be Canada’s No. 1 shot-stopper one day.
“It’s amazing. I’m very blessed and thankful to have kids that, first, are healthy, that are driving and going after their goals and their dreams. I’m very proud of where they are,” De Rosario said.
“I steered them in the direction of soccer hoping they’d be soccer players. Thankfully it worked out accordingly. I can only give them what I know, and all I knew was soccer.”
While De Rosario looks to give his kids nothing but love and support, the 46-year-old admits he can't help but fall into a few old-man tendencies when he sees the level of coaching and the facilities not just his children but also the current generation of Dynamo players who play in the Shell Energy Stadium that DeRo and many of his teammates helped build with their success at Robertson Stadium in the early years.
"I'm looking forward to reuniting with my brothers, always look forward to reuniting with Dynamo fans," he said.
"It's always nice to sit in that stadium and look around and say, 'Wow, if only we were around when this was here.' But to know we each had a part in that stadium is special."
