With his fantastic header in the 68^th minute against the New York Red Bulls, Dwayne De Rosario became only the 7^th MLS player in history to net 100 goals in the league.  Joining the ranks of Landon Donovan and Jeff Cunningham, De Rosario has had an illustrious career in the MLS and is one of the legends of American soccer.

From Canada, Dwayne De Rosario began his MLS career with the San Jose Earthquakes, where he made an immediate impact in the MLS Cup Final match, scoring a golden goal that propelled the team to victory.  In 2003 the club again won the MLS Cup and he played a solid role on the squad.

He continued at the club even after they moved and became the Houston Dynamo, where De Rosario helped lead the club to two more successive titles in 2006 and 2007.  Clearly he was one of the most influential players and has an incredible tendency to score brilliant goals, earning the MLS Goal of the Year award on several occasions in 2004 and 2005.

Dwayne De Rosario plays the vital attacking midfielder role that is so important in orchestrating the offense.  He has been very successful at this role as he has wonderful ball control and moves to confuse defenders.  Even more impressive is his finishing capabilities.  The 100^th goal was pure class as De Rosario rose to meet a long ball and calmly directed into the net while beating the lunging opposing goalie to the ball.  He said of the goal, “I figured, I am either going to wake up tomorrow wondering what happened or I’m going to put it in the back of the net.”

Fortunately the latter happened and he was able to run off to the corner and celebrate with his strange dance move.  He now will go down in history as one of the finest MLS players ever, a true legend of the game.

He has also spent time at Toronto FC and is currently playing for DC United.  At 34 years of age, he is reaching the twilight of his career but clearly still has got game with his recent goal-scoring exploits.  We can all question and wonder what he could have been if he had moved to a European league, but in my opinion what he has done for American and Canadian soccer has been a wonderful sight to see.  Please enjoy some highlights of the fantastic playmaker set to some classic hip hop tunes.

Last year, the American women were beaten in the Women’s World Cup final by Japan.  It was a scarring defeat as the USA had led during extra time but gave up a late goal and subsequently lost the penalty kick shootout.  This year, those memories were rekindled as the Olympic final again put USA and Japan in competition.

America apparently learned from their mistakes as thy played a much better game this time around. The majority of chances fell to them as Alex Morgan utilized her amazing speed to be a constant threat in the final third.  Early in the game, she received the ball, and was able to chip in a lovely cross that Carli Lloyd headed in for a goal.

The USA never looked back.  They continued to dominate and allowed Japan only the rare few chances which they failed to capitalize on.  Hope Solo was incredible in the goal for America. She made numerous key saves to keep Japan demoralized throughout.

In the second half, Carli Lloyd struck again.  After a wonderful run she blasted a long range strike into the bottom corner that was impossible to save.  The goal doubled America’s lead and proved to be the vital winner.  Japan tried to stage a comeback.

As time dwindled they pushed forward and found a few opportunities.  America suddenly appeared lazy and a horrendous clearance off their own goal line fed the ball right to Japan in the box.  After a smart pass, Japan had scored.

Then another terrible defensive error gave another chance to Japan, but Solo was able to make a brilliant diving save to block the score.

America played smart down the final stretch and were able to prevent any sniff of a comeback as they held onto the ball and defended well.  They desperately tried to score another goal. Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan both had several opportunities to score but just missed and grew increasingly frustrated.

But the Americans held firm and Japan seemed to lose their energy in the waning moments of the game.  The whistle blew and America was a joy as they had earned their 4^th gold medal in only 5 tries at the Olympics.

Such a feat is astounding in the modern game and simply shows how valuable Title IX has been at providing for women’s sports in this country.  Although they were beaten at the World Cup, the American dominance in women’s soccer in the Olympics has proven time and again that they are at the world’s forefront of the game.