Sounders FC's playoff foe features players with Northwest ties

The Houston Dynamo roster is littered with players with ties to the Puget Sound area. Which makes the Sounders FC-Dynamo matchup, entering its fifth chapter Sunday afternoon in Houston, even more intriguing.

Defenders Mike Chabala and Craig Waibel played soccer at the University of Washington. Backup goalkeeper Tally Hall is from Gig Harbor. Waibel and forwards Cam Weaver (Kent / Seattle U.) and Brian Ching (who starred at Gonzaga) played for the USL Sounders.

"I didn't realize we had so many Northwest connections," an astounded Chabala said Thursday. "That's incredible."

The Dynamo and Sounders FC already have a history of intense and physical matches in the first year of Sounders FC's existence. But to listen to Houston's players who know this area well, it's a pleasure to follow the progress of the new team and see the excitement for soccer in this region.

"It's awesome to see," Waibel said. "It's something the city deserved. I'm happy to have played there and be a part of the legacy building up to what they have now."

The Dynamo is just like every other Major League Soccer team that visited Qwest Field this season, energized by the buzz from the huge crowd and impressed with the atmosphere at games. You won't hear fighting words or bulletin-board material from the players, even though Waibel, a Spokane native, was roundly booed in the late going of the regular-season match July 11 at Qwest for some rough play on Seattle's Fredy Montero and Freddie Ljungberg.

"I made a decision during that game that I wasn't proud of," Waibel confessed. "I don't judge them [fans] for having an opinion."

Waibel is aggressive, a style that has served him well over his career. One he owes, in some small part, to Seattle coach Sigi Schmid.

In a 2000 U.S. Open Cup match between the USL Sounders and Schmid's Los Angeles Galaxy, Waibel must have impressed Schmid. The coach invited him for a workout in December of that year, and it led to a contract later that year.

Maybe Sounders FC fans can forgive Waibel when they hear him compliment the area soccer community.

"Seattle has so many people that love the game and live outdoors," he said. "It goes hand in hand. Part of the atmosphere in Seattle is the weather. ... There was never a doubt that it would work in Seattle."

Chabala remembers his UW days when he was encouraged to go see the USL Sounders play. The MLS Sounders' success and its impact on Seattle "gives me chills," he said.

"Any professional at whatever level wants to play in front of a big crowd," Chabala said. "Chanting for you or against you, I couldn't help but smile going out to the field. The fans there are intense."

Chabala said it was so loud in Seattle last Thursday in the first playoff game — Game 2 is Sunday — that he couldn't hear his teammate next to him.

Chabala and Weaver, road-trip roommates, were ecstatic to come back to the area to play earlier this season. "I don't think there's a more beautiful place in the country in the summer," Chabala said.

Waibel likes something else about playing in Seattle: He has to tell friends and family members to buy tickets. At other MLS road stops, he usually has tickets to give away to anyone coming to watch him.

"It's kind of nice," he said.

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com