Thomas Müller has experienced a lot in his career. Playoffs in soccer have not been part of it so far. Now, with the Vancouver Whitecaps, he faces FC Dallas—the team that handed him his first defeat.
Thomas Müller has quickly become a key player at his new club in North America. After seven MLS games, he has scored seven goals and provided three assists. “Things are going really well so far,” the former national player told Bayerischer Rundfunk ahead of the start of the MLS playoffs.
The reason for this is clear to him: “I get into significantly more attacking situations here than in the Bundesliga.” At home, things are tighter, with “tougher defending. Here, there’s a little more space.”
In addition to his personal success, Müller has only suffered one defeat since moving to Canada – last weekend’s 2-1 loss to FC Dallas.
However, the start of the playoffs offers a chance for revenge, as they face the team from Texas again.
Playoffs: A new experience for Müller
There will be a maximum of three matches in the first round of the playoffs.
The Whitecaps will host the first game on Monday night (12:30 a.m. German time). Müller is familiar with the principle from the NBA and NHL, but it is still a new experience for him, the long-time FC Bayern Munich pro recently reported. After the first round, however, the MLS will switch back to knockout games, a format Müller is already familiar with. “First it’s ‘best of three’, i.e. whoever wins two games first – and after that it’s like the DFB Cup,” said Müller. “Go home, season over – or move on. It’s just one game, not like in the Champions League with home and away legs, where you can get to know each other a bit. At least you don’t need bad luck on the day.”
Good starting position in the playoffs
After finishing second in the Western Conference, the Whitecaps have home advantage against Dallas and would also have home advantage in a possible third game. Vancouver would also host the next round, and only in a conference final against San Diego, the best team in the regular season, would they have to play an away game.
Should Müller’s team make it to the championship final, they will likely face another away game—against Kai Wagner’s Philadelphia, Cincinnati, or Inter Miami with Lionel Messi, all of whom scored more points than Vancouver in the regular season in the Eastern Conference.
In the first round, however, they will first face Dallas, where Müller can increase his already enormous popularity in Vancouver with more goals and success. In principle, he says he doesn’t care what people say about him, but: “My main focus is on playing good soccer. That’s what I enjoy most. And that comes across much more clearly when we’re successful than when things aren’t going well.“ The Canadian championship was already the first title.
Apart from the sporting aspect, Müller feels at home in Canada and waxes lyrical when he talks about his decision to move to North America: ”I was open to many things. But I didn’t expect to make such a good choice,“ he said. ”The journey has been sensational—for me, for the team, for the fans. But my work isn’t done yet.”
