'Better and better' - Vancouver Whitecaps star Thomas Muller continues to interpret the space around him, but how he does so remains his little secret

It's been 18 years since Muller first set foot on the field for Bayern Munich. In that time, he's played over 800 club games, with all but 34 of them coming for the Bundesliga giants. You can tack on 131 appearances for Germany, too, including four runs through the World Cup and Euros.

And yet, when Muller wakes up on a game day, he still gets those butterflies. They never go away.

"Every game is kind of different and new," he says. "That's the magic thing about team sports in general or sports in general."

The magic hasn't faded, which is why Muller hasn't either. He still plays with the same joy he always has. He's still just as eager to learn as he always was.

That's part of it, at least. The other part is, of course, that his game has always relied on intelligence more so than athleticism. Muller's biggest asset has always been his ability to outsmart whoever is in his way. German writer Uli Hesse put it best.

"Muller can’t beat you with his close ball control," he wrote in 2016. "He can’t beat you with his pace. And he can’t beat you with his dribbling skills. He just beats you."

That assessment came a decade ago and, even now, he's finding new ways to beat people. In 21 MLS games with the Whitecaps, he has 12 goals and seven assists. Before bringing in Muller last season, the Whitecaps were good. With him, they became great, only falling in the 2025 MLS Cup final to an Inter Miami team led by Lionel Messi, one of the few thinkers that can go toe-to-toe with Muller.

More than anything, what Muller has brought to Vancouver is experience. For everything he adds on the field, everyone around him will immediately point to the things he adds off of it, too. Last summer, when the Whitecaps went out to sign a superstar soccer player, they went out and got one. They also got something more.

"They bring you in always for a reason," he says. "Most of the time, it's for a sports reason, but sometimes also being an ambassador for the sports, for the city, be an idol for the kids in the youth academy. This responsibility, I think we all have it, but for sure everyone is doing it a little bit differently."

Last week, a spotlight was shone on how Muller does it. That's because he wasn't serving as an example for local kids, but for a team made up of MLS' biggest stars.

Throughout his time in Charlotte, Muller was at the forefront.

Every billboard had his face. He spoke to the media about anything and everything. His love of golf was a topic. So, too, was his relationship with Son Heung-Min, who Muller jokingly accused of cozying up to him so he'd take it easy on him when they next played. Muller even discussed his command of the Spanish language, or at least the important parts of it.

"I can say hello, Buenos Dias," Muller told reporters, "but the most common thing you have to know how to say is 'Una cerveza por favor'."

Cue the laugh track, and there was no shortage of laughs. All-Star Games are, naturally, awkward affairs. It's a bunch of competitors and rivals briefly tossed together for a one-off game that, realistically, doesn't mean anything. For this edition, Muller was one of the leaders able to get the MLS team rowing in the same direction ahead of their 4-3 win over their Liga MX rivals.

His leadership was based mostly on reputation. He didn't need to get people in line, nor would he ever try. Teammates just naturally wanted to play with him because they knew what that meant.

"When you're able to train every day at this high level, as I was able to do, you gain so much experience," Muller says. "You get better and better and better."

The MLS team was a diverse group, one made up of players both young and old. They were comprised of players representing 14 different countries and 21 clubs. Yet they all agreed on one thing: Muller.

"I'm German. He won the World Cup for Germany, and I think he had an unbelievable career," Nashville SC star Hany Mukhtar said after the game. "It's someone you can look up to...He has achieved everything you can achieve in football, and then he comes here, and he's enjoying his time with us. It's great for all of us, and it's great for the league. He's an unbelievable guy."

Added Charlotte FC captain Ashley Westwood: "Big fan. Obviously, grew up watching him in Europe, watched him in the Champions League. To get to meet him, he's a top, top guy. He's exactly what I imagined he would be."

Likable, personable, friendly - that's Muller in a nutshell. The world got a different sort of glimpse into that this summer by getting a different sort of glimpse at a player that took part in a World Cup in a whole new way.

This summer, for the first time since 2006, Muller was not on Germany's World Cup team. That fact, effectively, signaled the end of an era. For several years, Muller was a constant. During the Muller era, Germany reached the ultimate high of winning a World Cup. They also navigated some mighty lows, too.

Muller's absence was, of course, not a surprise. He announced in July 2024 that he was retiring from the international game. He did so with 131 caps and 45 goals to his name. Only Lothar Matthaus and Miroslav Klose have worn the Germany shirt more times than Muller.

He wore a different shirt this summer: one with buttons and a collar. For the World Cup, Muller traveled around North America alongside Jurgen Klopp for MagentaTV.

"It wouldn't be normal for me to take part in a German national team at a World Cup, so it's just normal to not play," he says, "but you're so close to the games. We're pitch side with Jurgen Klopp, and there are interactions with all these top stars."

For Muller, it was surreal, and not just because of the result. Germany, ultimately, crashed out early and Klopp, ultimately, was named the team's new head coach as a result. That, of course, was crazy. So, too, was just being a part of it all in a different way. Muller was both totally prepared but also wildly unprepared for it.

"You get the feeling," he says, "and you want to be on the pitch out there, but I took this feeling back home to the restart of the season now. You're kind of getting inspired by the World Cup and all the noise and all the good things that are going on during the World Cup.

"Now it's about us."

If it wasn't clear before this summer, it is now: Muller is closer to the end than the beginning. He's known that for a while now, of course. It's partly why he ended up in Vancouver. This was one more chance to make a difference, one more chance to try something totally fresh and new before that opportunity is over for good.

He joined on Aug. 6, 2025. Now, one year later, that decision feels totally justified. He's enjoying his soccer. More than anything, he's enjoying himself.

"For sure, the body gets worse and worse," he says with a laugh, "so that's what we are fighting against, but the experience and your behavior on the pitch? That's getting better and better."

There are more spaces that need to be interpreted, then. There are more challenges to tackle, more goals to score. There's a team and a city that need him to represent them. There are kids looking at him as an inspiration because he was someone who was never the strongest, the fastest or the smoothest, but almost always among the best.

So, all these years later, how has he done it, and how does he continue to do it? What is it that makes Muller work, despite all of the things that say he probably shouldn't? And how does that translate into the next phase, whatever that might be?

"I have so many chances to talk about the things I want to talk about," he says. "There are things I want to tell everyone, and there's nothing else there. Nothing more to share."

"I never really hide things," he adds, but as he begins to walk away, he throws in one last response: "Except for the things I keep secret."

That, in many ways, has always been the magic of Muller. There has always been something totally relatable about him, and yet that is something that no one else has quite been able to replicate.