Local flavor in MLS Cup
Houston and New England meet in Frisco, Texas, today in Major League Soccer’s championship game, the MLS Cup. The match will have a distinct local flavor as two of Houston’s starters – forward Brian Ching and defender Craig Waibel – have ties to Spokane.
Ching played at Gonzaga University before suiting up for the U.S. in the 2006 World Cup while Waibel grew up in Spokane, played at Washington and then went to the professional ranks.
“I never would have thought I would have been here after all those years back in college,” Ching said. “It’s great to have support from Washington. I still have family there and am going back for Thanksgiving. It’s been quite a journey for me and Craig (Waibel). We’ve both come a long way. We’ve played together for eight or nine years now.”
“He (Ching) is the untied shoelace,” Waibel said. “He was a transplant man, four years (in Spokane). I was there five years for all of my high school and then came back in the summers to play for the Shadow. It was an awesome experience. Home is always the most comfortable place in the world.”
At Gonzaga, Ching helped lead the Bulldogs to two West Coast Conference titles, was a two-time All-WCC first-team performer and finished as the school’s all-time assist leader.
Waibel, a Lewis and Clark HS graduate, played at UW and was drafted by Seattle in the first round of the 1999 A-League Draft and spent two seasons there before signing with Colorado in 2000.
They were teammates first with Los Angeles in 2001 and reunited with San Jose in 2003, when the Earthquakes won the MLS Cup. That team moved to Houston in December 2005. In the regular season, Houston finished six points behind in-state rival FC Dallas in the Western Conference. FCD lost in the opening round of the playoffs while Houston is in the title tilt.
Strong team chemistry is one thing that Waibel feels has been key for his team’s success. “(Head coach) Dom (Kinnear) puts a big emphasis on the locker room, everybody getting along and being a unit,” he said. “The greatest thing about this team is that it gets along better than any one I’ve ever been on. From top to bottom, we get along and really care about each other. It’s the first time in my career that I’ve ever been on a team like that.”
For Ching, the key to Dynamo winning today boils down to an old sports cliché. “Defense wins championships,” he said. “That’s what they always say. I think which team gets behind the ball, can be organized and makes the least mistakes will win.”
One thing that still astounds Waibel is that he is getting paid to play soccer. “I pinch myself all the time,” he said. “I think back to playing at Hart Field in high school and up on the South Hill on fields with lava rock up by the supermarket. It’s amazing just to look at where I came from and how small it was. It just amazes me that I’m able to do this.”
Should Houston win today, it will be the second MLS Cup win for both, but it will still be meaningful. “It always means something great,” Waibel said. “You tie all the intangibles in other than the game itself, it would awfully fun for us and our fans to win it in Dallas. They will have more fun with it than we would. We would be too busy staring at the silver ball (the MLS Cup).”