‘It would mean everything’ - How Brian White, Sebastian Berhalter and Thomas Muller are pushing the underdog Whitecaps to the brink of MLS Cup despite an uncertain future

Most had written Vancouver off before the season. And it was fair to see why. Consider everything about the team, and they, on paper, shouldn't have been playoff contenders - never mind MLS Cup. It had been rumored for some time that ownership was looking for outside investment. And in December 2024, a week after watching the playoffs from home, the Whitecaps owners officially started the process of putting the club up for sale. 

At the same time, it became clear there was little apparent movement on the possibility of the team securing a new stadium. The Whitecaps do not own BC Place, where they play week in, week out, and their agreement is up at the end of the calendar year.

And then, there was the coach. Previous manager Vanni Sartini was let go in the fall, with the Whitecaps having no apparent replacement immediately lined up. Instead, they went without a manager until the spring, when they appointed Jasper Sorensen, a seasoned manager, but one who lacked MLS experience. It all seemed primed for disaster - or, at least, mediocrity. 

But White didn't buy that. At least, that's what his play suggested. The American showed in 2024 that he has a fine scoring touch. And in 2025, that continued in style. He started hot pretty much from day one, and after bagging four against Austin FC on April 12, he topped the Golden Boot race. 

And he is the prototype here. White is 29 and spent nearly four full seasons plugging away for the New York Red Bulls without fully realizing his potential. To be sure, there were flashes of quality. But this year, under Sorensen, he found his touch. 

"He's raised the demand and the intensity and training the demands [even] after wins. Where can we improve? How can we get better? They even got like, a couple shots on goal. Like, why did that happen? You know, how can I think it's all been a constant strive for almost perfection, and I think that's really what's pushed this team to such heights this year," White said.

Pieced together, White pushed his way into the USMNT picture and was named an MLS All-Star. In a packed No. 9 pool for the national side, there was a real chance that he could make himself the go-to. But then, disaster struck. It started with a little tweak in the hamstring, but White was out for the best part of two months. Not until last week in the Western Conference finals did he fully return.

But there, of course, he found his best, scoring twice in a 3-1 romp.

"It felt really good. The end of the year has been frustrating with injuries, dealing with that, coming back and then getting hurt again. It's always frustrating as a player, when you just want to be on the field, helping the team. But to be involved in the LA game and then to help the team win against San Diego, it meant a lot," he said.

Part of the credit here has to go to Sorensen, of course. Until Muller arrived, Sorensen had, in effect, done a lot with a little. Sure, there are fully fledged internationals in Tristan Blackmon and Sebastian Berhalter. But Sorensen still had to make the most out of them. Berhalter, along with White, has made his impact known with 11 assists and four goals in MLS play, and now might be in Mauricio Pochettino's best XI. If not, he's certainly among the best central midfielders in the league.

"He puts in the work every day. And I think Sebastian has, has really, is really easy for him to pick up advice. He wants to get all the information he can get. And he also wants to, you know, so badly, to develop," Sorensen said.

But outside of that, the Whitecaps are lacking in star power - especially after designated player Ryan Gauld went down with a long-term injury. 

Yet Sorensen never panicked and trusted the system.

"There's always a constant demand for quality and discipline, and focus every training session, every game. So I think that's what's helped push us all year long to be as good as we had been," White said. 

Yet there’s an unavoidable truth behind this run: Vancouver’s future is uncertain. For all of Sorensen’s changes and Berhalter’s improvements, the club might not look anything like this in a few months. Ownership is actively exploring a sale. A new stadium lease remains unresolved. MLS has long pushed for a soccer-specific venue, and while nothing can be built by next season, commissioner Don Garber made it clear the clock is ticking.

“We’re in the business of delivering for the people that really, really want to have an MLS team,” Garber said in his State of the League address. “We need to wait and see if the cities and provinces want to do that. If they don’t, we’ll have to make some tough decisions.”

And yet, fan support has never been stronger. Winning helps, of course, but BC Place was sold out for the Western Conference semifinal against LAFC. Once a temporary stopgap while the Whitecaps waited to move out, the stadium now feels like a fortress.

Whether they stay there or not, Canadian soccer has wind at its back. The country will host the World Cup in just over six months. Under Jesse Marsch, the men’s national team finally looks revitalized. The momentum behind the sport across Canada is impossible to ignore.

“For Canadian soccer, it’s important that the teams here represent that part of Canada, that soccer culture. It’s a special, special city, and the way the whole city supported us throughout this year, it means a lot," White said.

The evidence is visible in Miami alone. This is technically a home game for Inter Miami, yet Vancouver fans have travelled in force. There will be pink shirts in the stands, but white and blue won’t be hard to spot either.

“It’s not natural that we have this kind of support. It’s not natural that this kind of hype is around the Whitecaps in the city, and we really feel that everybody’s behind us, and, you know, that’s what you want to create,” he said.

There is, of course, a certain irony. The biggest names driving Canadian soccer in MLS are American. Marsch, once considered for the USMNT job, is arguably the highest-profile American coach on the continent. Berhalter, White, and Blackmon are all U.S. internationals. For a club flying the Canadian flag, there’s a lot of Americanness at the core.

White sees that as an asset, not a contradiction.

“Seeing three American guys thrive on a Canadian team is a little bit different, and I think it’s been special. We’ve been each other’s biggest cheerleaders,” he said.

And so we return to Muller, the goofy superstar who dove straight into the banter. He has provided a massive lift, and he’ll be central to everything Saturday afternoon. The numbers back it up, too: few players in the world have a winning record against Messi.

“He knows how he's been able to prevail in games when they went up against Barcelona or Argentina,” Sorensen said. “But we know that it has to be a collective effort, and that's what we will put up — not just against Messi, but also against Miami.”

Of course, this goes beyond him. Vancouver have already beaten Miami twice this season, including a CONCACAF Champions Cup win at Chase Stadium. They’ve played in two finals and won one. And for all the talk that Messi is the greatest to ever kick a ball - he most certainly is - Vancouver may actually be the more complete team. Everything feels like it has aligned at the right moment. A new coach lifted an uncertain side, key players have thrived, and the result is a genuine contender rather than a feel-good story.

Will the Whitecaps still be in Canada next year? Who knows. But they are here now, a Cup finalist built on far more than pluck, proving they belong in this moment.