Thomas M\u00fcller knows exactly what it is like to face Lionel Messi with a trophy at stake \u2014 and he knows what it takes to win in those moments, too.<\/p>\n
The 2025 MLS Cup final \u2014 Messi and Inter Miami vs. M\u00fcller and the Vancouver Whitecaps \u2014 is going to draw a few comparisons from a personnel standpoint to the 2014 World Cup final and 2010 World Cup quarterfinal matches between Argentina and Germany.<\/p>\n
Germany, with M\u00fcller, won both times. Messi played in those matches for Argentina, as did Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano. They’ll all meet again on Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, with M\u00fcller surely knowing that facing Messi doesn’t automatically mean a loss.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s not about Messi against Thomas M\u00fcller,” he told reporters after Vancouver’s 3-1 win over San Diego in the Western Conference final on Saturday night. “It\u2019s Miami against the Whitecaps.”<\/p>\n
Then he added, “Maybe they rely a little bit more on him than we do on me, because we are such a good group.”<\/p>\n
What Messi thinks of the matchup \u2014 he has gone head-to-head with M\u00fcller 10 times in various competitions, and his side has won only three of those \u2014 is a bit of mystery and likely may stay that way. Inter Miami rarely makes Messi available for interviews.<\/p>\n
This much, however, is known: Messi came to Inter Miami midway through 2023 with the goal of winning an MLS Cup, something that seemed far-fetched at the time considering when he joined the club it was at the bottom of the league. A win on Saturday would fulfill his quest and would cap a season when Messi also won MLS’ Golden Boot as the top scorer \u2014 plus, more than likely, a second consecutive league MVP award.<\/p>\n
“Even though he’s the best in history … it’s unfair to believe that he’s going to win every game,” Mascherano said after Inter Miami’s 5-1 romp past New York City FC in the Eastern Conference final on Saturday night. “Everybody has raised their level.”<\/p>\n
The MLS final comes as part of a huge week for soccer in North America. The FIFA World Cup draw for next year\u2019s men\u2019s tournament in the U.S., Canada and Mexico is on Friday in Washington along with the initial awarding of that organization\u2019s peace prize. MLS, if past form holds, seems likely to announce its MVP award winner this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It’s not like either Messi or M\u00fcller needs a win on Saturday to get some sort of validation. Their r\u00e9sum\u00e9s and legacies were secured long ago: Both are World Cup winners, Champions League winners and Club World Cup winners.<\/p>\n
But like Messi, M\u00fcller came to MLS \u2014 he joined Vancouver four months ago \u2014 seeking a title in that league to add to the list. The chance has arrived.<\/p>\n
“I enjoy watching him,” M\u00fcller said in an on-field interview for Apple TV following Vancouver’s win Saturday night. “I have the feeling Miami’s a very strong team. We saw them beating New York in quite a really strong manner. It’s a big final. I wished for this final. And here we go. I think it’s great for everyone.”<\/p>\n
Reporting by The Associated Press.<\/i><\/p>\n
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POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Thomas M\u00fcller knows exactly what it is like to face Lionel Messi with a trophy at stake \u2014 and he knows what it takes to win in those moments, too. The 2025 MLS Cup final \u2014 Messi and Inter Miami vs. M\u00fcller and the Vancouver Whitecaps \u2014 is going to draw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}