Both teams will now advance, while first-time entrant Guadeloupe who are back in third place still have a chance as one of the two best third placed teams.
"This is a big tournament for us," De Rosario said.
"Unfortunately we don't have the luxuries of playing a lot of friendlies to prepare for World Cup qualifiers. So we take this tournament very seriously."
Canada will play a quarterfinal match Saturday against the second place finisher from Group B.
De Rosario gave Canada a 1-0 lead with his first goal in the 32nd minute.
Paul Stalteris pass from the right wing found an open De Rosario near the end line of the far post.
From a difficult angle, De Rosario found enough spacing to beat Haiti goalkeeper Gabart Fenelon with a shot which landed in the far post.
Three minutes later, De Rosario converted on a penalty kick after Pierre-Richard Bruny fouled Issey Nakajima-Farran inside the penalty area.
Fenelon guessed correctly but it still couldnt stop De Rosario's shot which landed low inside the left post.
"That put us in a favorable position," Canada head coach Stephen Hart
said.
"All we had to do after that was be disciplined not rush the game. And we got the result."
Frustrations
Haiti's frustrations at not advancing to the elimination round boiled over
in the 81st minute, when referee Marco Rodriguez ejected Bruny for his elbow on head infraction against Canadas Kevin Harmse.
"I take responsibility for Haiti not advancing to the second round," Haiti coach Luis Garcia said.
"We came to play with our best effort but technically we were not at the same level as our adversaries."
Centeno scores the winner
Meanwhile, Costa Rica's Walter Centeno scored his third goal in the Gold Cup and the Ticos advanced out of the group stage with their 1-0 victory.
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Walter Centeno (r) of Costa Rica celebrates
with teammates Alvaro Saborio (l) and
Allan Aleman [GALLO/GETTY] |
Centeno scored on a free kick in the 14th minute. His drive from 22 yards
sailed past a wall of defenders and landed inside the right post, giving him eight career Gold Cup goals, tied with Landon Donovan and Brian McBride of the United State for third in tournament history.
Goalkeeper Jose Francisco Porras made key stops in the second half to
preserve the shutout for Costa Rica, which lost to Canada and tied Haiti its previous group matches.