The Houston Dynamo will honor several of their past legends, including Dwayne De Rosario, as part of their 20th anniversary celebration Saturday night when they play host to the Seattle Sounders.
What will make the occasion even more special for De Rosario is that his son Osaze is expected to be in uniform for the Sounders.
The younger De Rosario had eight goals in five matches for the Sounders’ MLS Next Pro club, the Tacoma Defiance, this season. He came off the bench and nearly scored in his MLS debut last weekend in a 4-1 victory against St. Louis City SC.
Forward Danny Musovski has scored in four consecutive matches in place of the injured Jordan Morris (hamstring) for the Sounders (4-3-4, 16 points), who are riding a four-match unbeaten streak (3-0-1).
De Rosario gives the Sounders some depth up front.
“Jordan’s re-injury had something to do with it, but Osaze has been on an upward trajectory,” Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said. “He’s got good starting points, that’s what I would say. In our (St. Louis game), some of his hold-up play, his ability to be physical. He missed the goal, which everybody sees, but I liked what I saw in all of the other important parts of the game.”
The elder De Rosario played with the Dynamo from 2006 to 2008 and was named the MVP of the 2007 MLS Cup when Houston won the second of its consecutive titles. In addition to Osaze, Dwayne’s other son Adisa signed a homegrown contract with Toronto FC in February as a goalkeeper.
“It’s amazing,” De Rosario told MLSsoccer.com. “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.
“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.”
The Dynamo (2-5-4, 10 points), who defeated Phoenix Rising FC in the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday, suffered a 2-0 loss last weekend at Los Angeles FC in which they failed to record a shot on goal. Houston goalkeeper Jonathan Bond made eight saves to prevent a blowout.
“We’re toothless right now,” Dynamo coach Ben Olsen said.
This will be the second meeting of the season between the Western Conference rivals after a scoreless draw March 22 in Seattle.
–Field Level Media
