Celebrity Interviews

Craig Waibel: "I'm Best at Blocking, Missing"

Houston Dynamo Craig Waibel stopped by the SOC studios to talk about the upcoming soccer season (starts March 21 at home against Colorado) and how the team is shaping up after losing Dwayne DeRosario.

On "being hard of hearing" according to Pat Onstead: I like to think that after 9 or 10 years you get a little bit set in your ways. I'm just an old dog, it's hard to teach me new tricks. And sometimes it's hard to hear him (Onstead) between the wheezing and coughing. Waibel was just joking of course.

On how the team is shaping up: I think we're shaping up well. Stuart (Holden) looks great in the midfield right now, and Julius James looks pretty good. He's learning every day, and I know (they're) working really hard with him to catch him up to speed. So really, all the holes have been plugged and it's fine. I think we've got a great bench. If our starting 11 stays healthy, we've got three or four of us that aren't starting consistently that could contribute on a great level.

On his role with the team: Dom sat me down and said, 'Richard's going to be my starting right back,' understanding that I can play more than one position in the back line and Richard can play in the central midfield. There's going to be a lot of opportunity for me to get back on the field. It's not going to be playing every week, but at the same time, I'm going to be given enough opportunity to contribute.