{"id":71952,"date":"2025-12-05T02:52:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T02:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/71952\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T02:52:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T02:52:13","slug":"thomas-muller-miami-vs-vancouver-a-perfect-mls-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/71952\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas M\u00fcller: Miami vs. Vancouver a “perfect” MLS Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2013 Thomas M\u00fcller<\/a> is well aware of the pressure and stress that playing in a cup final brings.<\/p>\n

In fact, he understands those pressures better than anyone else on Vancouver Whitecaps FC<\/a>, or even any player from his home nation, having won a German record 35 trophies<\/a> during his illustrious career.<\/p>\n

But you wouldn\u2019t know it when speaking to him ahead of MLS Cup 2025 presented by Audi on Saturday against Inter Miami CF<\/a> (2:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV<\/a>; FOX, FOX Deportes; TSN, RDS).<\/p>\n

As he greeted the media Thursday afternoon at Chase Stadium, M\u00fcller was his typical charming self, calm as ever and not at all nervous or overwhelmed by the weight of the match ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this match is great\u2026 Two teams with a very attractive and good-looking playing style. So yeah, a perfect final in my opinion,” M\u00fcller said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m appreciative to be a part of it. And this Cup, it\u2019s why we are here, and we want to bring him home. First time since a long time, but we\u2019re very excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Eyes on the prize<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old’s relaxed nature doesn\u2019t mean he isn\u2019t prepared for Saturday\u2019s clash with Lionel Messi<\/a> and other \u201cold friends,” as he called them, who have propelled Inter Miami into a global brand.<\/p>\n

When it comes time to take the pitch for the final match of the season, he\u2019ll be as ready as ever, prepared to add another trophy to his near-overflowing cabinet.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment I rank it number one [most important final of his career], because it\u2019s the only final that we are talking about, it\u2019s upcoming,” said M\u00fcller, who joined Vancouver in August following 17 seasons with Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 At the moment for me, this final on Saturday is the most important thing in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n High-profile bout<\/p>\n

As the road team, M\u00fcller and the Whitecaps know there will be moments where their backs are against the wall, especially against a Miami side that’s been dominant in the Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs on both sides of the ball, outscoring opponents 17-4.<\/p>\n

Though history would suggest luck may not be on their side \u2013 the last 13 MLS Cups have seen just three away teams emerge victorious \u2013 the Raumdeuter\u2019s confidence remains undeterred.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said, I think the offensive lineup is pretty decent, and in the last matches they scored a lot of goals. They scored a lot of also fantastic goals. So, we know what to expect from them,\u201d M\u00fcller, who has 9g\/4a in 12 games with Vancouver, shared of Inter Miami.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut as Seba [Berhalter] already said, we are focusing on playing our game. We have a lot of belief in ourselves. I don\u2019t mean that we believe, \u2018Ok, we can win it for sure.\u2019 We are here to win, but we trust each other on the pitch, regardless [of] any result, any situation. Since I\u2019m here, I have this feeling we are a very, very close group.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Messi vs. M\u00fcller<\/p>\n

Given the shared history between M\u00fcller and Messi \u2013 they’ve played 10 times prior for club and country, with M\u00fcller winning seven of those clashes \u2013 eyes will gravitate towards two of the sport’s biggest stars.<\/p>\n

M\u00fcller expressed excitement at having one more chance to face off against some of his most legendary rivals, but cautioned that the result will hinge on more than just the play of a few superstars.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not really close, but I was always watching them playing, and they are great players, they were great players. Some of them still are,\u201d he said, also referencing past matches against Miami head coach Javier Mascherano and FC Barcelona legends Jordi Alba<\/a>, Sergio Busquets<\/a> and Luis Su\u00e1rez<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always nice when you can look back on your own history to meet them again. But regarding the result or about the game, what was in the past is not very important for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Particularly when it comes to his previous success against the GOAT, M\u00fcller was quick to interject \u201cwith my teams, never played one-on-one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter for Saturday; it\u2019s a new game,” the 2014 FIFA World Cup<\/a> champion said. “\u2026 I always have my confidence to beat someone or to compete with someone as a team and as an individual. So, I don\u2019t need my history that much to be confident.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 In the end, the game is decided on the pitch, on Saturday in the future. So, it\u2019s a nice thing to talk about, and I hope we can continue to talk about it Saturday after the game. But you know how the game goes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2013 Thomas M\u00fcller is well aware of the pressure and stress that playing in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[12629,123,125,124,39287,4959,39449,4798],"class_list":["post-71952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-match-previews","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-miavsvan-12-06-2025","tag-sendtonews","tag-thomas-muller","tag-vancouver-whitecaps-fc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}