April 21, 2022...Big Name, Big Talent: How Osaze De Rosario is Finding His Own Lane (from York United FC website)

BIG NAME, BIG TALENT: HOW OSAZE DE ROSARIO IS FINDING HIS OWN LANE

The 20-year-old is already off the mark for the 2022 season.

The surname De Rosario resonates powerfully right across North American soccer circles and so when
York United FC snapped up 20-year-old Osaze for the 2022 Canadian Premier League season, expectations
were inevitable.

His father, Canadian icon Dwayne, enjoyed a glittering career which saw him feature for five MLS clubs
- San Jose Earthquakes, Houston Dynamo, New York Red Bulls and, most famously, hometown side Toronto FC.
In total, he won four MLS Cup titles and was voted the league's MVP in 2011.

On the international stage, he was a phenomenon and it was only this year that Cyle Larin replaced
him as the senior team's all-time top scorer after raking in 22 goals in 81 games between 1998
and 2015. A member of the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup-winning team and a four-time Canadian Player of the Year
recipient, he will forever rank as one of the finest players this country has ever produced.

And seven years on from his retirement, his progeny is in good stead to take over the mantle.

Last Friday night in Edmonton, he smashed a piledriver inside the near post to open the scoring for
York United in their 1-1 draw with the Eddies. And just like that, Osaze displayed his ingenuity
to all and sundry.

It was his first goal for the club on his full debut.

"I think it's great for him," said York United Head Coach Martin Nash who praised his striker for
stepping in so impressively for another youngster in Lowell Wright.

"I thought he had a really good game. He battled, he worked hard. He started a little bit slow
to get to grips with it for whatever reason but I think from the 15-minute mark, I thought he was
really good. He took his goal very well and almost had another so he did really well. He's a bright
young talent, he's got a lot of technical abilities, he's got pace, he's got power, he's got strength,
he's got good size."

Osaze will - understandably by now in his burgeoning professional career - be tired of forced
comparisons to his father but it's impossible for him to escape that.

However Nash, who played alongside his DeRo Senior, says Osaze is growing into his own man.

"Don't worry about the family name," Nash remarked.

''I played with his Dad - a great player in his own right. But Osaze is his own man.[He's a] different
type of player. He's really strong, holds the ball really well. He's very physical, good in the air.
He's a very young talent but a great kid with a great work ethic."

WATCH: Osaze De Rosario chats about that first goal, stepping out of his father’s shadow and escaping
Ukraine nine days before the war began.

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