The accolades just keep coming for Dwayne De Rosario.
After already having secured the Golden Boot and Most Valuable Player awards in MLS this past season, the D.C. United star was named Canada’s men's Player of the Year on Wednesday.
De Rosario earned the honor based on a stellar year in which he scored 16 goals and 12 assists in league play. His goal total, split between three teams over the MLS season, was the highest of his illustrious career so far.
In addition to the big numbers he put up at the club level, De Rosario also notched four goals for the Canadian national team in 2011, the most recent of which put the 33-year-old into a tie for top spot on Canada’s all-time goal-scoring chart.
“It’s a huge honor,” De Rosario said in a conference call on Wednesday. “Anytime you have the opportunity to represent your country and be awarded with such a high honor, it’s a special one. It’s one that I’m grateful to receive.”
Despite the flurry of off-field moves that saw the Scarborough, Ontario, native start the year in Toronto, spend a few months with the New York Red Bulls and finish the season with D.C., De Rosario’s effort on the pitch never suffered.
It’s something that was not lost on Canadian national team coach Stephen Hart.
“You must admire anyone who faces such an uncertain start of the season only to excel as he did in 2011,” Hart said in a statement. “Through the right mentality, he never allowed his on-field performance to suffer. He deserves to be recognized for the year he put together.”
This is the fourth such award for De Rosario, who also got the nod in 2005, '06 and '07. He was runner-up in each of the past three years.
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