Thomas Müller is in the final of the Major League Soccer championship with the Vancouver Whitecaps and will face Lionel Messi and Inter Miami.
Müller’s Canadian team beat MLS newcomer San Diego FC 3-1 (3-0) in San Diego and thus won the playoffs of the Western Conference. Miami is the representative of the Eastern Conference in the MLS Cup final after a 5-1 win against New York City FC.
Because of the better main round record, Miami will be the host on the German night on Sunday (3:00 a.m. CET). It is the first time that both football teams have taken part in the final.
For Müller and Messi, who has been playing in Miami since the summer of 2023, it is the first duel since the Champions League round of 16 between FC Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain in the spring before Messi’s move to the USA and the first final together since Germany won the World Cup in 2014.
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During his time at Inter, Messi has already won the Leagues Cup (2023) and the Supporters Shield (2024) for the best main round record, but never came close to the championship. Müller has already won the Canadian championship since arriving in Vancouver.
Dream start for Vancouver
Vancouver took a quick 2-0 lead in San Diego with an early one-two punch.
First White scored (8th minute), three minutes later a rebound from the strong Ali Ahmed went over the line off goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega’s back for the hosts. Driven by Müller, the Whitecaps forced the ball close to the penalty area and then quickly and cleverly looked for a finish. White scored again before the break to make it 3-0 (45th+2).
Immediately before Müller’s substitution in the 61st minute, San Diego made it 3-1 with a deflected shot, but ended the game outnumbered. Goalkeeper Sisniega was shown a red card after an emergency stop far outside the penalty area (79′).
Miami had a little more trouble with New York, but they also had the outstanding man of the game in triple goal scorer Tadeo Allende. He scored the first two goals and finished the game in the 89th minute. Messi prepared the goal to make it 3-1 and thus decided the game.