Thomas Müller: MLS Cup vs. Lionel Messi’s Miami a “perfect situation” | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

SAN DIEGO – Thomas Müller was fibbing earlier this week.

His assurances of “no question marks at all” about his fitness for what turned out to be an emphatic Vancouver Whitecaps victory over San Diego FC in the Western Conference Final? That was putting a brave face on some muscular issues – mostly his calf, it appears, though he’s also managed an adductor knock since joining VWFC from Bayern Munich over the summer – that challenged him, but couldn’t keep him off the pitch for their epic 3-1 road win at Snapdragon Stadium.

And they almost assuredly won’t keep him off the Chase Stadium grass for MLS Cup 2025 vs. Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF on Dec. 6 (2:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV; FOX, FOX Deportes; TSN, RDS), either.

“Oh, it's good enough. It's always good enough,” Müller told reporters of his health with a weary, happy grin as his teammates celebrated loudly in the next room. “And yeah, I think we'll be fine until next week.

“I tried to keep it together, and I think the boys are appreciating it as well. But yeah, you could see it on the pitch today – we had some great actions, offensively and defensively, and I'm very, very proud to be part of this group.”

Clash of icons

Though Müller made sure to emphasize how much less central he is to Vancouver’s prospects than Messi is to Miami’s, he’s well aware of what their combined star power means for the league’s showcase fixture.

“It's not about Messi against Thomas Müller, it's Miami against the Whitecaps,” he said, sporting a ‘conference champions’ beanie he jokingly compared to a hockey player’s. “Maybe they rely a little bit more on him than we do on me, because we are such a good group, you know what I mean?

“The nice thing about it is not only playing against the greatest player who played our game and is still playing our game, it's more that, I think, when you have a pairing like this, more people are watching,” Müller continued. “If more people are watching, the value also for you as a player, as an individual, also for your team and also for your franchise, is way bigger.”

This grand finale will mark the 11th all-time meeting between Messi and Müller, who’ve clashed in Argentina-Germany matches as well as UEFA Champions League action with FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. Though Müller flatly dismisses any lingering value from having gotten the better of the GOAT on seven of those occasions, there’s magic in the air every time.

“The match gets a little bit more important than it is,” he mused. “It's a final for the MLS Cup. But if it's with these big, big players and big names in the soccer world, then it's a little bit more exciting for more people in the world. So a perfect situation for everyone involved.”

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Müller’s impact

Somewhat unusually, there’s ample history between these two sides who typically wouldn’t meet all that often. But the Whitecaps’ impressive dispatching of the Herons over two legs in the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals this spring – a stunning 5-1 aggregate triumph – ensures familiarity, and no small revenge motive for Messi & Friends.

All that transpired before Müller’s arrival. Yet it factored into his analysis of the club, both before he made his big move, and after he donned their colors and searched for ways to help elevate an already successful collective under coach Jesper Sørensen, orchestrating both the attack and the high press – part playmaker, part coach on the pitch.

“When I came in in August, they were already in a really good shape,” said the German legend. “Until the Concacaf final, they were doing really good. I think the summer break was a little bit bumpy road, some injuries and a little bit less wins.

“When I came in, everybody was ready to perform,” he continued. “Everybody asked questions, everybody was open for my advice. Also, the coaching staff brought me in to do that. And I think we were still growing, were still building it up step by step, yeah, but I have the feeling we are in a great shape as a group, and I try to let them join in with and learn from my experience, as I did from veteran players when I was young.”

Vancouver Whitecaps: From bitter defeat in Concacaf Champions Cup to MLS Cup

These ‘Caps already learned what it takes to beat Miami. While Sørensen emphasized that the Herons have improved much since then, so, it seems, have VWFC.

“Thomas coming in, he's been incredible,” Ryan Gauld told MLSsoccer.com. “We had a good start of the season anyway, but he's really helped take us an extra step. So hopefully we can close the deal next week.

“I've seen in the past few years, the kind of build-up and the kind of show that goes on leading up to an MLS Cup, but we're just going to have to treat it like another game, like we treated tonight. And I think you could see that tonight: We came in, we just wanted to play our game … We don't play the scenario.”

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