Osaze De Rosario making his own way

RENTON — Growing up as the eldest son of a genuine footballing legend, Osaze De Rosario always sort of knew what he was going to do.

That certainly had its advantages. De Rosario’s pro soccer path started relatively young and predictably included a stop at Toronto FC’s academy, joining an organization where his father Dwayne had starred for several years.

The family’s love language was football, which made conversations easy, too.

But carrying the De Rosario name hasn’t necessarily made the path any simpler or straightforward for Osaze, either.

Now 23, De Rosario just made his MLS debut in the Seattle Sounders’ 4-1 win over St. Louis City on Saturday. He earned that debut by scoring nine goals in his first seven games of the season with Tacoma Defiance, marking him as one of the hottest strikers in North America.

In a sense it was the culmination of a journey that has taken him literally across the world as he’s searched for stability.

More broadly, it’s really only the beginning of his emergence as a player who can reliably perform at a high level.

His biggest opportunity yet to make that statement likely comes tonight when he is expected to start for the Tacoma Defiance as they take on the Portland Timbers in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 32.

“This is an MLS player, and we’ve all known it,” Defiance head coach Hervé Diese told reporters this week. “It’s just a matter of he needed to get on board. He needed to start driving that bus, and that’s exactly what he’s starting to do this season.”