It’s the MLS Cup final that so many people have been waiting for since the summer.
Inter Miami, led by Lionel Messi, hosts the Vancouver Whitecaps, led by Thomas Müller, in one of the most high-profile championship clashes in 29 years of MLS history.
By virtue of having a higher regular-season points total, Inter Miami earned the right to host the one-match final, which will be the final game at their temporary home, Chase Stadium, before opening the brand-new Miami Freedom Park for the 2026 MLS season.
Both teams clinched their spot in MLS Cup with dominant performances. Inter Miami thrashed New York City FC 4–1, featuring a hat-trick by Tadeo Allende in the Eastern final, before the Whitecaps beat San Diego FC 3–1 on the back of a Brian White brace to claim Western glory.
Now, one team will win their first MLS Cup and get the honor of lifting the Phillip F. Anschutz Trophy.
Here’s Sports Illustrated’s guide to the key storylines.
David Beckham-Owned Inter Miami Looking to Reach Initial Goal
When Jorge and Jose Mas, alongside David Beckham, launched Inter Miami in 2020 for their first MLS regular season at the MLS is Back COVID tournament at Disney World, their intentions were clear: They wanted the Herons to be a world-class club.
While it wasn’t until the third season that they signed Lionel Messi and reunited the FC Barcelona foursome of himself, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Luis Suárez, the goal of being the landmark club in MLS has always been the goal.
Now, they have their first real chance. Yes, they won the 2023 Leagues Cup, but that victory came in the first few weeks of Messi’s tenure, which has otherwise seen the club fall short of silverware in the FIFA Club World Cup, MLS Cup playoffs, Concacaf Champions Cup, U.S. Open Cup and 2025 Leagues Cup.
The MLS Cup is the premier trophy for North American clubs, and now they have a chance to win it for the first time after peviously claiming the Supporters’ Shield, awarded to the best regular season team, in the 2024 season.
Lionel Messi vs. Thomas Müller
The matchup that will draw eyes from across the globe isn’t just the star-studded qualities of both teams, but one of the best player rivalries of a generation as Lionel Messi prepares to face off against Thomas Müller for the 11th time in their respective career.
Müller has the advantage in head-to-head clashes with seven wins against Messi while representing either Bayern Munich or Germany. The most prominent win came in 2014, when Müller assisted Mario Götze in extra time of the World Cup final, leaving Messi heartbroken and still searching for soccer’s most significant honor until finally winning it himself in 2022.
Thank you for the great support to all our @WhitecapsFC fans 👏⚽️ pic.twitter.com/Q06H5euSY1
— Thomas Müller (@esmuellert_) November 30, 2025
The German legend also claims the 8–2 brace over Messi’s FC Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League in 2020. Still, Messi can hang onto a Barcelona win over Bayern Munich in the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League semifinal, which the Blaugrana went on to win.
“The past is history. I know about my games against Messi, but I also lost against him, and it’s not about Messi against Müller, it’s Miami against the Whitecaps,” Müller said of the matchup following the Whitecaps’ Western Conference win. “Maybe Miami relies a little bit more on him than we do [on Muller], we’re such a good group.”
Concacaf Champions Cup Rematch
It’s just the third time Inter Miami and Vancouver have clashed, but two of those games came in the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal, a two-legged series which Vancouver won 5–1 on aggregate.
Vancouver got two goals from Brian White and Sebastian Berhalter in the cup tie, while Pedro Vite scored the lone other goal. Vite, however, was transferred to Liga MX’s Pumas in the summer, before the Whitecaps filled his role with Müller. Alba scored Miami’s lone goal.
The dominant performance from the Whitecaps came before Miami had found their form and before the Whitecaps shifted from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 to accommodate Müller.
With the results, Vancouver became the first team in Messi’s career that he has faced twice and failed to score against.
Unfortunately for the Whitecaps, things did not go to plan in the Concacaf Champions Cup final. After advancing past Miami, they fell 5–0 to Liga MX’s Cruz Azul in the one-match final in Mexico City.
End of an Inter Miami Era
The 2025 MLS Cup will be the last Inter Miami match as fans know it. Both Alba and Busquets will retire after the final whistle and will hope their last moments as pro athletes is a trophy lift.
At the same time, it could mark the end of Suárez's time with the club as well. Manager Javier Mascherano has dropped the Uruguayan veteran striker in the last three games, opting for 19-year-old Mateo Silvetti alongside Messi and Allende in the 4-3-3.
The switch is key to getting Miami to MLS Cup, after Suárez struggled to produce attacking moments through the regular season and playoffs. In 22 appearances, he only scored 11 goals.
With at least two legends leaving and Mascherano taking on the responsibility for a significant decision in his first club-level managerial role, it is evident that the current era of Inter Miami is coming to a close.
Vancouver Whitecaps Seek Perfect Ending
It’s been a historic season for the Vancouver Whitecaps, regardless of how the final goes down. The team set regular season records for most points, most wins, and most clean sheets, among others.
In addition to their regular season success, they captured a fourth straight Voyageurs Cup in the Canadian Championship, advanced to the Champions Cup final, and pushed past FC Dallas, LAFC, and San Diego to win their first Western Conference championship.
It has been highly unexpected for the Whitecaps, a team Sports Illustrated predicted to finish ninth in the Western Conference in preseason analysis. Making things even sweeter, though, is that the season has come with the club seeking new investors and a new owner, with current ownership going public in December 2024 about its desire to sell the club.
In March, they also lost captain Ryan Gauld to an injury, which held him out until October.
Within a year, the club has gone from playoff heartbreak to being listed for sale to signing a global superstar in Müller and now playing for the MLS Cup. Can they finish off the perfect story?
First Year Coaches Clash
One of Javier Mascherano or Jesper Sørensen will have the honor of leading their team to a club-first MLS Cup and both are in their first seasons at the helm.
Mascherano had previously only coached Argentina’s youth teams and came to Miami to reunite with former teammates from his FC Barcelona days. He had a steep learning curve with his stubbornness over team selection early in the season, but has since learned the art of being a manager.
Sørensen, who finished second in MLS Coach of the Year voting, has been a revelation for many after previously spending his entire career coaching in his home country of Denmark. Before signing with the Whitecaps as a replacement for the energetic Vanni Sartini, he was the manager of Brøndby IF, where he led them to a second-place finish in the 2023-24 Danish Superliga.
Each defeated another rookie head coach in the conference finals as well: Vancouver beat Mikey Varas’s San Diego, and Miami pushed past Pascal Jansen’s NYCFC.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Inter Miami vs. Vancouver Whitecaps: The Stars, Storylines, Previous History Ahead of 2025 MLS Cup Final.
