Mike Chabala

OUTLOOK: Veteran defender and Dynamo original returns to Houston in 2013 after spending first six years of career in orange.

2013 MLS: Started in 4-1 loss vs. New York Red Bulls on 9/8 ... Played 90 minutes in 2-0 win vs. Stoke City in Dynamo Charities Cup on July 24 ... Played 90 minutes in 3-0 U.S. Open Cup loss at FC Dallas on June 12 ... Made first regular season appearance in 1-1 draw at Sporting Kansas City on 5/26 … Playoffs: Started the Eastern Conference Final first leg vs. Sporting Kansas City on 10/9 in place of Corey Ashe due to yellow card accumulation ... 13-14 CCL: Started all four group games and played all 360 minutes ... 12-13 Champions League: Did not feature … Open Cup: Played 90 minutes in 3-0 U.S. Open Cup loss at FC Dallas on 6/12 … Played 90 minutes in 2-0 Open Cup win over FC Tucson on 5/29.

2012: Appeared in 12 games (8 starts) with the Portland Timbers and D.C. United in 2012 ... Traded from Portland to D.C. United on 8/9 ... Started in D.C. United's 3-0 loss at Montreal on 8/25 ... Started in D.C.'s 2-1 loss at Sporting Kansas City on 8/11 ... Played 90 minutes in 5-0 loss at FC Dallas on 7/21 ... Started against Aston Villa FC on July 24, playing 88 minutes ... Played 90 minutes against FC Dallas on July 21 ... Started and played 90 minutes against the LA Galaxy on June 17  ... Featured in three straight matches, going 90 minutes against Columbus (May 5) and Chicago (May 20) and also featuring as a halftime sub against Houston (May 15) ... Made first start of the season on April 14 against the LA Galaxy ... Saw his first minutes of the MLS season on April 7, coming on as a halftime substitute against Chivas USA ... Played 90 minutes and served as team captain in an MLS Reserve League match on March 27 ... Was an unused substitute for the Timbers first four matches.

2011: Arrived in Portland July 21 following a trade with Houston, along with defender Lovel Palmer, in exchange for midfielder Adam Moffat and allocation money on July 21, 2011 ... Made his club debut in a friendly against Inde­pendiente (Argentina) on July 26 ... In his second league start for the Timbers, scored his first goal of the season Aug. 3 in a 3-0 home win over LA Galaxy ... Recorded as­sists in back-to-back home games on Aug. 24 and Sept. 16 ... His assist Aug. 24 set up Eric Brunner’s game-winning goal over Chivas USA ... Selected to MLSsoccer.com’s Team of the Week in Week 21 ... Finished the season with four points (1 goal, 2 assists) - all coming with Portland ... Made seven appearances (2 starts) with the Dynamo prior to the midseason trade.

2010: Played a career-high 25 games (22 starts), tallying his first career goal and a career-best four assists ... Began the season by scoring the opening goal of Houston’s first game in a 1-1 tie at FC Dallas March 27 ... Tied a career high with two assists in a 3-0 win vs. Chivas USA on April 17, setting up goals by Lovel Palmer and Dominic Oduro ... Started the final two games of the season, both wins, and contributed the game-winning assist in a 2-1 win vs. Seat­tle Oct. 23 ... One of only two Dynamo field players to play all 360 minutes of the SuperLiga tournament as Houston reached the semifinals.

2009: Broke into Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear’s starting XI by winning the starting left back job ... Made 15 appearances (12 starts), contributing three assists ... Made first career MLS appearance as a substitute vs. New York April 11 and was ejected for a slide tackle late in the game ... Earned his first career assist July 4 ... Played all 120 minutes in Houston’s MLS Cup Playoff conference semifinal series against Seattle ... In the 2009-10 CONCACAF Cham­pions League, started games on Aug. 19 vs. Isidro Metapán and Aug. 26 at Árabe Unido.

2008: Was a regular at left back for coach John Spencer’s league-champion Dynamo Reserves squad ... Notched two goals and two assists.2007: Was a regular contributor on the Dynamo Reserves, starting 10 of the team’s 12 games ... Started and played the full 120 minutes in the Dynamo’s 1-0 U.S. Open Cup loss at Charleston on July 10.

2006: Selected in the fourth round (44th overall) of the 2006 MLS SuperDraft by Houston out of the University of Washington ... Started all 12 Reserve League games, playing the second-most minutes on the squad with 1,056 ... Had a team-high six assists ... The Dynamo Reserves finished third in overall standings ... Spent part of his 2006 rookie season on loan with the USL First Division Timbers, appear­ing in eight games with the Portland club ... Was a fourth-round pick (44th overall) in the 2006 MLS SuperDraft.

COLLEGE: Attended the University of Washington ... Was a NSCAA third-team All-American, first-team All-Far West Region and second-team All-Pac 10 in 2004 ... Took home honorable mention All-Pac 10 and Pac-10 All-Academic honorable mention in 2003.

PERSONAL: Began playing soccer at the age of four ... Traveled on a team trip to Europe as an eight-year-old ... If not playing soccer, would be living in New York and work­ing on Wall Street ... Lists snowboarding, golf, and politics among his hobbies ... Lists Brazilian midfielder Kaká as one of his favorite athletes ... Favorite music genres are indie rock and techno ... Majored in economics at Wash­ington and graduated in three-and-a-half years ... Interned at Pacific Capital as a financial planner in 2005 ... Went on Armed Forces Entertainment trip to Hawaii, Kwajalein, and Guam in December 2009 with then-teammate Bobby Boswell and D.C. United players Marc Burch and Devon McTavish.