Vancouver Whitecaps FC’s Thomas Müller promised to “hunt” Lionel Messi again, revealing that he’s hoping for a MLS Cup matchup with the Argentine’s Inter Miami side.
Müller and Vancouver will have to first find a way past San Diego FC in this Saturday’s Western Conference final before they can dream of a showpiece fixture against either Miami or New York City FC next month.
The German icon won the biggest of games when his national team triumphed in the 2014 World Cup final against Argentina and Messi. More than a decade later, that championship hunger hasn’t waned.
“My history with [Messi] forces me to hope for a final,” he told . “To me, Messi is the greatest player we have in this game … but I will hunt you [Messi] again.”
At 36, Müller is leading the Whitecaps through his first MLS Cup playoffs and into the club’s first-ever appearance in a Western Conference final.
“When you get closer to finals, you get to play better teams,” Müller told assembled media this week. “You play the best teams in the end normally, so it’s always nice to beat the better team. More spectators, more people are watching whether you are getting the job done or not. That fires me up, to be honest. To get the job done when everybody’s watching… That’s it, and that’s what I want to do again and again.”
Vancouver enters Saturday’s matchup off a club-defining win, beating Son Heung-min’s LAFC on penalties after an enthralling 2–2 draw, slaying playoff demons after the Black and Gold ended Vancouver’s 2024 and 2025 seasons.
Now, they sit on the precipice of MLS Cup, with another massive game in a record-breaking season that saw them advance to the Concacaf Champions Cup final, win a fourth-straight Canadian Championship, and set regular-season club records in nearly every category.
“We went through, and everyone will remember that,” Müller said of the win over LAFC. “But nobody remembers the quarterfinals. A quarterfinal is just played to get to the semifinal or to go on holiday. The goal is always to get to the final, and that’s our next step, and that’s what I'm focusing on.”
