MLS Cup 2025: How Vancouver Whitecaps FC can beat Inter Miami CF
Looking at what Miami's done in the playoffs, you might expect them to rack up another big scoreline in Saturday's MLS Cup final. But there's a throughline in their losses that Vancouver will want to note.
Next Saturday at 1:30 pm CT, after traveling about as far as a team can physically travel in MLS, Vancouver Whitecaps FC will play Inter Miami CF for the 2025 title.
Miami has the home-field advantage and the Lionel Messi advantage, which also brings with it Jordi Alba, Luis Suarez, Rodrigo de Paul, and perhaps most surprisingly, Tadeo Allende, who scored 11 goals during the regular season, and has registered eight during the playoffs, including a hat trick against NYCFC on Saturday to elevate them to the finals.
But Vancouver is arguably the best team-playing-as-a-team this season in MLS, just missing out on the best seed in the West as the result of a shocking Decision Day loss to Dallas, which put them on the road for the conference final and will keep the final in South Florida rather than British Columbia.
The teams have nearly identical records (Miami is 19w 7L 8D on the season, with the 'Caps at 18W 7L 9D), and though they're differently built, they're also stunningly similar in mounting an excellent goal differential. Miami had 81 goals on the season but let in 55 for a GD of 26, good for second in MLS, while Vancouver scored 66 but only let in 38 (second-best in the league) for a league-leading GD of 28.
And then there's this from the Bluesky account dedicated to MLS writer Matthew Doyle:
Those who kept up with the POWER RANKINGS on TACTICS FREE ZONE this season will know that the 2025 MLS Cup is between the two teams who held rank 1 the most often (Miami, 14; Vancouver, 9)
Ignore POWER at your peril
In other words, despite how the seedings shook out, giving us a No. 2 heading to a No. 3 for the final, we ended up with arguably the two best teams in MLS this season playing for the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy — which, for the next six days, is still maintained by the LA Galaxy.
Determining how Vancouver can beat Miami lies in reviewing how they got through the playoffs.
How Vancouver got here
The Whitecaps started their 2025 playoff journey reprising their regretful Decision Day matchup against Dallas, dispatching them in two games in the best-of-three series. It did, however, take penalty kicks in the clinching game to do it, after falling behind on a Petar Musa goal and managing a stoppage-time equalizer to keep the series from heading back north. Game 1 was a different story, and more like what they did in subsequent playoff series: They got a Daniel Rios goal before halftime and, thanks in part to a Thomas Müller penalty kick, cruised to a 3-0 win to get the advantage.
And then came the epic match against LAFC, in which Vancouver scored in the 39th minute with an Emmanuel Sabbi goal, got a stoppage-time goal from Mathias Laborda seven minutes later to be up 2-0 at the break, and then couldn't get the third goal they needed to put the game away. LAFC's counterattack came to life, Son Heung-min scored twice, Tristan Blackmon was ejected on a questionable call to set up the second Son goal (the free kick you likely remember from this match) ... and then the Whitecaps hung on throughout 30 minutes of extra time, not only preventing a goal but clawing back momentum that they took into the PK sequence that sent them through.
Against San Diego on Saturday, they scored twice in the first 12 minutes, first from Brian White, and then from an Ali Ahmed shot set up by a Sabbi shot saved by Pablo Sisniega, credited as a Sisniega own goal when he mishandled the blocked shot in the chaos that the Whitecaps created. White added a second goal to his tally in first-half stoppage time with a belly goal set up by Ahmed.
So, keep this all in mind: Lots of players involved, and for the most part, overwhelming and unsettling teams with first-half goals. (Austin FC experienced this in the Whitecaps' 5-1 win in April; Vancouver also did this to Miami in its Concacaf Champions Cup first leg 12 days later, en route to a 5-1 aggregate two-leg victory that got the Whitecaps into the CCC finals.)
(That final did not go well with the Whitecaps, as they lost 5-0 away at Cruz Azul, but then they had an incredible eight days in September in which they blanked the Union 7-0 on a Saturday, shut out Forge on a Tuesday to win the Canadian Championship, and returned the following Saturday to beat SKC on the road 2-0. That's a trophy and a drubbing of the Shield winners and a 15-0 showing over three matches.
How Miami got here
Starting as a No. 3 seed, Miami drew Nashville (who Miami also played on Decision Day), and was taken to a third game, winning the opener 3-1 (after winning the Decision Day match 5-2), lost the second game in Nashville 2-1, and then won the rubber match 4-0, with Messi scoring a first-half brace and Allende scoring a second-half brace).
And that's really when Miami's playoff dominance kicked in. In the conference semifinals, Miami traveled to Cincinnati for what could have been one of the playoffs' best matchups. Instead, Messi scored first, and Allende got another second-half brace en route to a 4-0 match that Knifey Lion was never really competitive in.
And then, Saturday's conference final, which by the great good fortune of the Pigeons beating the Union in the other conference semifinal, meant Miami got to host. While Miami might have fared well enough in 36-degree weather in Chester, had the Union advanced to last night's match, Miami instead got to host the No. 4 seed.
Allende switched things up with a first-half brace, and got his third goal late in what ended up a 5-1 contest to send Miami to the final. While NYCFC did get a set piece header to somewhat answer back and close the contest to 2-1, Miami was able to put the match away in the second half, starting with Mateo Silvetti getting a goal set up by Messi and Alba.
Scoring early
Let's look at Miami's seven losses during the regular season.
April 27, hosting FC Dallas, 4-3 (FCD scored first, in the 8th minute)
May 10, at Minnesota United FC, 4-1 (MNUFC scored first, in the 32nd minute, and was up 2-0 by halftime)
May 17, hosting Orlando City, 3-0 (Orlando clearly scored first, in the 43rd minute)
July 17, at FC Cincinnati, 3-0 (FCC also clearly scored first, in the 16th minute)
Aug. 9, at Orlando City, 4-1 (Orlando City scored first, in the 2nd minute) (yes, 2nd minute)
Sept. 13, at Charlotte FC, 3-0 (with Idan Toklomati starting his hat trick in the 34th minute); and
Sept. 30, hosting Chicago Fire FC, 5-3 (with the Fire getting their first goal in the 11th minute en route to a 2-0 lead and a 3-1 halftime lead).
Remarkably, in all seven of those losses, Miami's opponent got a first-half goal en route to the win. In a couple of them, Miami was able to get back level, and even got a 3-1 lead against Dallas before giving up a trio of goals in the last half hour.
In Miami's lone playoff loss, Nashville also got out to an early lead, going up 2-0 by halftime, with Messi only able to get a 90th-minute goal to get his side on the scoreboard.
Consider that 18 teams have let in fewer goals than Miami in 2025, including Toronto, New England, and Real Salt Lake. It's very possible to score on the Herons; it's just that no team scored more goals, and with the Fire being second 13 goals behind, with a respectable 2 goals a game average, it's also quite possible to lose in a match in which the goals are flowing.
The strategy should be clear
For Vancouver, which was 3rd in goals scored and, again, 2nd in goals allowed in 2025, the strategy should be clear: Score first.
While there's no guarantee that scoring first will bring victory, it's notable that Miami got scored on first in all seven of its losses. That also meant, in the regular season, if Miami scored first, they'd do no worse than draw.
Fortunately for Vancouver, scoring first is something it's been able to do consistently throughout the playoffs, not reliant on a single player to make it happen.
"It's not about Messi against Thomas Müller; it's Miami against the Whitecaps,” Muller said in the post-match press conference as relayed by MLSSoccer.com's Charles Boehm. “Maybe they rely a little bit more on him than we do on me, because we are such a good group, you know what I mean?
“The nice thing about it is not only playing against the greatest player who played our game and is still playing our game, but it's more that, I think, when you have a pairing like this, more people are watching,” he added. “If more people are watching, the value also for you as a player, as an individual, also for your team and also for your franchise, is way bigger.”
People who only peripherally know MLS are likely expecting the Messi show, and might be expecting the outcome to be over by the time the SEC Championship college football game between Alabama and Georgia kicks off at 3 pm CT. (Yes, maddeningly, there's MLS/SEC overlap again.)
But for those who have watched Vancouver with any regularity this season, as I have, I believe we're in for a far better match than we had last season, when the Red Bulls somehow clawed their way from the No. 7 seed into the final and were overwhelmed by a Galaxy team missing Riqui Puig but getting a stellar performance from Gaston Brugman (who is now a free agent cut loose from Nashville SC).
It's not the LAFC-Miami match some might have been missing, but I'd argue this is better. I'm looking forward to how this unfolds. Especially if the Whitecaps score first.
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts.
Collectively, you think Austin FC will do okay (but perhaps not great) in 2026. And the frustration you displayed about myriad things indicate you collectively wanting more winning.
A few weeks back, nearly 200 of you took a survey to gauge your feelings on Austin FC. We've got a lot of pie charts to let you know how you collectively feel.
Next Saturday at 1:30 pm CT, after traveling about as far as a team can physically travel in MLS, Vancouver Whitecaps FC will play Inter Miami CF for the 2025 title.
Miami has the home-field advantage and the Lionel Messi advantage, which also brings with it Jordi Alba, Luis Suarez, Rodrigo de Paul, and perhaps most surprisingly, Tadeo Allende, who scored 11 goals during the regular season, and has registered eight during the playoffs, including a hat trick against NYCFC on Saturday to elevate them to the finals.
But Vancouver is arguably the best team-playing-as-a-team this season in MLS, just missing out on the best seed in the West as the result of a shocking Decision Day loss to Dallas, which put them on the road for the conference final and will keep the final in South Florida rather than British Columbia.
The teams have nearly identical records (Miami is 19w 7L 8D on the season, with the 'Caps at 18W 7L 9D), and though they're differently built, they're also stunningly similar in mounting an excellent goal differential. Miami had 81 goals on the season but let in 55 for a GD of 26, good for second in MLS, while Vancouver scored 66 but only let in 38 (second-best in the league) for a league-leading GD of 28.
And then there's this from the Bluesky account dedicated to MLS writer Matthew Doyle:
In other words, despite how the seedings shook out, giving us a No. 2 heading to a No. 3 for the final, we ended up with arguably the two best teams in MLS this season playing for the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy — which, for the next six days, is still maintained by the LA Galaxy.
Determining how Vancouver can beat Miami lies in reviewing how they got through the playoffs.
How Vancouver got here
The Whitecaps started their 2025 playoff journey reprising their regretful Decision Day matchup against Dallas, dispatching them in two games in the best-of-three series. It did, however, take penalty kicks in the clinching game to do it, after falling behind on a Petar Musa goal and managing a stoppage-time equalizer to keep the series from heading back north. Game 1 was a different story, and more like what they did in subsequent playoff series: They got a Daniel Rios goal before halftime and, thanks in part to a Thomas Müller penalty kick, cruised to a 3-0 win to get the advantage.
And then came the epic match against LAFC, in which Vancouver scored in the 39th minute with an Emmanuel Sabbi goal, got a stoppage-time goal from Mathias Laborda seven minutes later to be up 2-0 at the break, and then couldn't get the third goal they needed to put the game away. LAFC's counterattack came to life, Son Heung-min scored twice, Tristan Blackmon was ejected on a questionable call to set up the second Son goal (the free kick you likely remember from this match) ... and then the Whitecaps hung on throughout 30 minutes of extra time, not only preventing a goal but clawing back momentum that they took into the PK sequence that sent them through.
Against San Diego on Saturday, they scored twice in the first 12 minutes, first from Brian White, and then from an Ali Ahmed shot set up by a Sabbi shot saved by Pablo Sisniega, credited as a Sisniega own goal when he mishandled the blocked shot in the chaos that the Whitecaps created. White added a second goal to his tally in first-half stoppage time with a belly goal set up by Ahmed.
So, keep this all in mind: Lots of players involved, and for the most part, overwhelming and unsettling teams with first-half goals. (Austin FC experienced this in the Whitecaps' 5-1 win in April; Vancouver also did this to Miami in its Concacaf Champions Cup first leg 12 days later, en route to a 5-1 aggregate two-leg victory that got the Whitecaps into the CCC finals.)
(That final did not go well with the Whitecaps, as they lost 5-0 away at Cruz Azul, but then they had an incredible eight days in September in which they blanked the Union 7-0 on a Saturday, shut out Forge on a Tuesday to win the Canadian Championship, and returned the following Saturday to beat SKC on the road 2-0. That's a trophy and a drubbing of the Shield winners and a 15-0 showing over three matches.
How Miami got here
Starting as a No. 3 seed, Miami drew Nashville (who Miami also played on Decision Day), and was taken to a third game, winning the opener 3-1 (after winning the Decision Day match 5-2), lost the second game in Nashville 2-1, and then won the rubber match 4-0, with Messi scoring a first-half brace and Allende scoring a second-half brace).
And that's really when Miami's playoff dominance kicked in. In the conference semifinals, Miami traveled to Cincinnati for what could have been one of the playoffs' best matchups. Instead, Messi scored first, and Allende got another second-half brace en route to a 4-0 match that Knifey Lion was never really competitive in.
And then, Saturday's conference final, which by the great good fortune of the Pigeons beating the Union in the other conference semifinal, meant Miami got to host. While Miami might have fared well enough in 36-degree weather in Chester, had the Union advanced to last night's match, Miami instead got to host the No. 4 seed.
Allende switched things up with a first-half brace, and got his third goal late in what ended up a 5-1 contest to send Miami to the final. While NYCFC did get a set piece header to somewhat answer back and close the contest to 2-1, Miami was able to put the match away in the second half, starting with Mateo Silvetti getting a goal set up by Messi and Alba.
Scoring early
Let's look at Miami's seven losses during the regular season.
Remarkably, in all seven of those losses, Miami's opponent got a first-half goal en route to the win. In a couple of them, Miami was able to get back level, and even got a 3-1 lead against Dallas before giving up a trio of goals in the last half hour.
In Miami's lone playoff loss, Nashville also got out to an early lead, going up 2-0 by halftime, with Messi only able to get a 90th-minute goal to get his side on the scoreboard.
Consider that 18 teams have let in fewer goals than Miami in 2025, including Toronto, New England, and Real Salt Lake. It's very possible to score on the Herons; it's just that no team scored more goals, and with the Fire being second 13 goals behind, with a respectable 2 goals a game average, it's also quite possible to lose in a match in which the goals are flowing.
The strategy should be clear
For Vancouver, which was 3rd in goals scored and, again, 2nd in goals allowed in 2025, the strategy should be clear: Score first.
While there's no guarantee that scoring first will bring victory, it's notable that Miami got scored on first in all seven of its losses. That also meant, in the regular season, if Miami scored first, they'd do no worse than draw.
Fortunately for Vancouver, scoring first is something it's been able to do consistently throughout the playoffs, not reliant on a single player to make it happen.
"It's not about Messi against Thomas Müller; it's Miami against the Whitecaps,” Muller said in the post-match press conference as relayed by MLSSoccer.com's Charles Boehm. “Maybe they rely a little bit more on him than we do on me, because we are such a good group, you know what I mean?
“The nice thing about it is not only playing against the greatest player who played our game and is still playing our game, but it's more that, I think, when you have a pairing like this, more people are watching,” he added. “If more people are watching, the value also for you as a player, as an individual, also for your team and also for your franchise, is way bigger.”
People who only peripherally know MLS are likely expecting the Messi show, and might be expecting the outcome to be over by the time the SEC Championship college football game between Alabama and Georgia kicks off at 3 pm CT. (Yes, maddeningly, there's MLS/SEC overlap again.)
But for those who have watched Vancouver with any regularity this season, as I have, I believe we're in for a far better match than we had last season, when the Red Bulls somehow clawed their way from the No. 7 seed into the final and were overwhelmed by a Galaxy team missing Riqui Puig but getting a stellar performance from Gaston Brugman (who is now a free agent cut loose from Nashville SC).
It's not the LAFC-Miami match some might have been missing, but I'd argue this is better. I'm looking forward to how this unfolds. Especially if the Whitecaps score first.
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts.
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