FORT LAUDERDALE — On one side, you have Lionel Messi, the reigning World Cup champion until at least next summer and the GOAT, maybe forever. On the other side, another goal-scoring machine in Thomas Müller, who also knows what it’s like to hoist the World Cup.
But that’s only the start of the storylines for the MLS Cup final, because Inter Miami vs. Vancouver also marks the final match in the storied careers of Inter Miami’s Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, plus a farewell to Chase Stadium.
Got all that?
Good.
Because there’s one more storyline that must not be overlooked, mainly because without it, this match probably wouldn’t be happening, at least not in Fort Lauderdale.
Javier Mascherano isn’t just in his first year as Inter Miami’s coach. It’s his first coaching job, period. It involves some of the biggest personalities in the game, whom he once called teammates. It involves benching one of them — 600-goal scorer Luis Suarez — and making major changes at both ends of the field for the Herons.
Gutsy decisions? Unquestionably. Whatever Mascherano may have reasonably envisioned with the changes, it’s safe to say those expectations have been exceeded and could be the key to handing the club its first Major League Soccer championship.
Mateo Silvetti, Tadeo Allende now flank Messi
Inter Miami’s playoff aggregates of 17 goals for and four goals against scream success. Messi is still Messi, but he’s now flanked by Mateo Silvetti and Tadeo Allende, who have combined for 10 playoff goals, including Allende’s hat trick in the conference final.
Good as that may sound, the team’s chances of reaching this far probably were iffy with a defense vulnerable to counterattacks and dead-ball situations. After Oscar Ustari conceded five goals to Chicago in September, Mascherano made Rocco Rios Novo his first-choice goalkeeper, and the 23-year-old Argentine has allowed one goal over the past three matches.
Turned out that the risk the club made in hiring this 41-year-old coach wasn’t much of a risk at all. Confidence in his calls? You bet.
“When you make decisions and those decisions are linked to important names, it generates a lot more noise,” Mascherano said.
It certainly helps that Suarez took being relegated to the bench like a professional, saying it would be wrong for him to make waves at such a critical time. The tough conversation he had with Mascherano likely played a role.
“What I try to do is do my job as honestly as possible,” Mascherano said. “ … The whole season was very, very difficult to arrive in this position. So we are going to do everything that we have in our hands to lift the trophy.”
That too won’t be easy. Allende missed a training session this week with a fever, although Mascherano didn’t sound overly concerned. Beyond that, the Whitecaps are 2-0 against Inter Miami in 2025, even though all parties agree neither team bears much resemblance to when they last met.
Vancouver has since imported ex-Bayern Munich striker Müller, 36, who helped Germany win the World Cup in 2014. Müller and Messi’s teams have faced each other 10 times starting in 2010, with Müller’s side winning seven, including the past four by a combined 14-4.
“I know you guys and the media and also MLS, it makes sense also to make a point with Messi and a little bit myself and the bigger names,” Müller said. “But I think it’s about two teams — really close, yeah, but two teams with a very attractive, good-looking playing style. So yeah, perfect final.”
Home teams have dominated MLS Cup, including winning seven of the past eight finals. Stats like that have Müller playfully channeling his inner “Dumb and Dumber.”
“But there’s a chance,” he said. “I’m glad to hear that.”
A soccer first: Someone will have won World Cup, MLS Cup
Something not left to chance is that by Saturday evening, someone, finally, will be able to say his career includes winning both the World Cup and MLS Cup. The fact no one has done it caught some of the principals by surprise.
“It’s true?” Mascherano said. “Hopefully it can be three (Messi, Rodrigo De Paul, Busquets). But at the end, I think it’s very, very interesting for the league, for this country, for this sport, to have this kind of game.”
Müller had the perfect response ready when asked to compare his desire to win an MLS Cup to the other titles in his career.
“At the moment I rank it No. 1, because it’s the only final coming up that we’re playing,” he said. “This final on Saturday, it’s the most important thing in my life. That’s a good line, huh? Boom!”
Regardless of the result, there are bound to be emotions on the Inter Miami side. Alba and Busquets have already announced they’re retiring. Suarez hasn’t revealed his future.
“It’s excellent,” Alba said when asked to assess his career. “That boy who dreamed of playing in the first division has fulfilled all his dreams and even more than I thought. … It’s been a week with a lot of emotions, knowing that it’s going to be my last game, and obviously it’s going to be different, but with a firm decision, which is to finish my career on the best possible stage.”
Win or lose, it will mark Inter Miami’s final match at Chase Stadium, which was always intended to be a temporary home while Miami Freedom Park is completed in time for the 2026 season.
“It’s the most important game in our history,” Inter Miami defender Noah Allen said.
MLS Cup
Inter Miami vs. Vancouver Whitecaps
Saturday, Dec. 6, 2:30 p.m.
Chase Stadium, Fort Lauderdale
Fox, Apple TV (no subscription needed), Fox Deportes
Tickets: Listed on the secondary market at prices ranging from $187 to $7,286
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Inter Miami, Lionel Messi face Vancouver Whitecaps for MLS Cup
