Sitting on his flight from Munich to Vancouver in August, Thomas Müller flipped between watching his new club playing a Canadian cup match and a documentary about the Whitecaps’ 1979 North American Soccer League title, the Soccer Bowl.
It was then that he first saw the potential of his choice—the city he picked from dozens of suitors who courted his skill set after 25 years with Bayern Munich.
“It was really nice to see what can happen with a city, maybe at former times, with a village, if there is success, if you win against bigger cities,” Müller told reporters earlier this week. “That’s what we want to do, and that’s the story, it’s part of the journey, and what I’m focused on is grass, the balls. We need balls.”
Ahead of that 1979 NASL final, telecast commentator Jim McKay described the “deserted village of Vancouver,” with all its people tucked inside to watch the Whitecaps in the Soccer Bowl against the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
On Sunday, Müller looks to lead the Whitecaps to that pinnacle again, starting with a first-round best-of-three series against FC Dallas.
“When I meet people out there in the streets, they’re just super positive for the Whitecaps and also to me personally. So I feel quite comfortable right now,” he added. “We want to have this feeling to get the city going. That will be a big achievement for us, to see people going because of us, because of the Whitecaps. That’s a big pride for me as well.”
