He’s been dubbed the final piece of the puzzle by Red Bulls coach Hans Backe and last night, just hours after arriving in New York from Toronto, Dwayne De Rosario showed a glimpse of the creative flair that his new team has been missing.
Two minutes after coming on at halftime, the Canadian international played a perfect ball behind the Houston defense that speedster Dane Richards turned into the Red Bulls lone goal in a 1-1 draw with the Dynamo at Red Bull Arena.
De Rosario said he found out about the trade, which sent promising midfield prospect Tony Tchani and versatile Danleigh Borman along with a 2012 MLS SuperDraft first round pick to Toronto, about 6 p.m. Friday evening.
In the morning he was on a plane to New York and he met his new teammates about two hours before the start of the game.
But it took De Rosario, who came on for ineffective Mehdi Ballouchy, even less time to make an impact following a dour first half.
“We said at halftime it has to be more dynamic,” Backe said. “It was lazy, too comfortable, too many unforced errors.”
De Rosario played a final pass to Richards, who has made a history of burning the Dynamo. The Jamaican raced into the box, cut back on a defender and beat goalkeeper Tally Hall inside the far post to give the Red Bulls a 1-0 lead in the 47th minute.
“I saw the space open up and I saw Dane running from the right across and I knew I just had to play the ball in with good enough pace,” De Rosario said. “I just played the ball into space and he pretty much did the rest.”
The advantage, though, was short-lived as a gaffe by goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul led to Cam Weaver’s equalizer three minutes later. Will Bruin latched onto Hall’s goal kick and Weaver rounded Rafa Marquez and tapped past Coundoul, who inexplicitly came off his line.
“He should have stayed in the goal, of course,” Backe said. “There is no idea to run up like that when Marquez was rather close to Weaver who scored.”
The Red Bulls (1-0-2) pressed for the winning goal, outshooting the Dynamo, 16-5, in the second half. On the hour mark, Joel Lindpere put a deflected cross off the crossbar and a minute later De Rosario put an open shot into the upper deck.
In the 70th minute, De Rosario lofted a cross toward the back post that took a touch off two Houston defenders before Thierry Henry’s point-blank shot was saved. Lindpere’s rebound was blocked.
Luke Rodgers came on in the 78th minute and the Red Bulls went with three forwards. However, Juan Agudelo had a shot cleared off the line by Bobby Boswell in the 83rd minute, De Rosario had a downward header bounce wide of the net in the 87th, Henry rolled a ball into Hall in the 89th and Hall robbed Henry in stoppage time, parrying his header at the edge of the six over the bar for a corner kick.
“We didn’t get the job done,” Henry said. “It’s disappointing for us today, I thought we should have won.”
Still, the Red Bulls were dangerous in the attacking third and much of that went to De Rosario, who played the role of the much-needed No. 10 even though he’s wearing No. 11.
“You see how good these guys are,” De Rosario said. “They like the move the ball around, I like the rhythm they play with and I think I can fit in quite nicely.”
De Rosario said he certainly welcomed the trade, his time in Toronto filled with one rebuilding year after the next.
“It was just time,” he said. “I had enough and had to do what was best for me and my future.”
And De Rosario believes his future with the Red Bulls is bright.
“It’s nice to be in a great organization like the Red Bulls,” De Rosario said. “I came here and everything has been first-class so far. I’m looking forward to spending many years here and hopefully first thing is making the playoffs and hopefully winning a Cup.”