Rockets Center Clint Capela is Excited About the World Cup Coming to Houston

The city of Houston is about to be marred with a significant bevy of traffic, starting June 14th, as the fourth-largest city in the United States will be one of just 11 American cities to host the FIFA World Cup. Granted, traffic in Houston is already bad, even without the famed soccer event, but there will be even more of an uptick.

Houston Rockets reserve big man Clint Capela is excited for the event, because both of his home countries will be qualifying. The 32-year-old former first-round draft selection explained the source of his excitement to Brandon Robinson (also referred to as Scoop B).

"The World Cup is coming here and I’m very excited because both of my countries are qualifying in Switzerland and [Republic] of Congo which are my home countries. It doesn’t get better than this."

Capela was asked to make the ultimate pick between the two teams and struggled a bit, before ultimately making a pick.

"I’m 50-50 for sure. I think for Congo it’s the first time qualifying in seven years or something? So that would be even crazier, you know? So they play in the playoffs in March, so they got a good chance."

In total, Houston will serve as host for seven different matches, as outlined below:

June 14, 2026: Germany vs. Curaçao (Group E)
June 17, 2026: Portugal vs. DR Congo (Group K)
June 20, 2026: Netherlands vs. Sweden (Group F)
June 23, 2026: Portugal vs. Uzbekistan (Group K)
June 27, 2026: Cape Verde vs. Saudi Arabia (Group H)
June 29, 2026: Round of 32 (1C vs. 2F)
July 4, 2026: Round of 16

On the hardwood, Capela just wrapped up his 12th NBA season, in total, in his first season back with the franchise that first put him on the map in five years. The Rockets drew criticism for bringing Capela back, as they already boasted depth at the center position between Steven Adams and two-time All-Star big man Alperen Sengun.

However, Adams has developed a bit of an injury history, and had missed 146 games in the three seasons leading up to the 2025-26 season. Adams ultimately suffered another season-ending injury this past season that caused him to miss 50 games and the Rockets' final 42 games of the regular season.

Capela averaged 3.8 points, 4.6 rebounds (2.1 on the offensive end), .8 blocks and 52 percent from the field in just 12.3 minutes of action for the Rockets. He also made a bit of personal history in Houston's final game against the Memphis Grizzlies, draining his first ever 3-pointer.