Three key Vancouver players who could decide MLS Cup final

Inter Miami will host the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday in the 2025 MLS Cup Final. It's set to be a fascinating game, with both teams making their first appearances in the championship match.

Each team has one thing in common: a star player who cut his teeth in Europe before coming to MLS and running riot. Miami, of course, has Lionel Messi; Vancouver has German World Cup winner Thomas Muller. But this match is about more than their long-standing rivalry.

"It's not about Messi against Thomas Muller," said Muller himself when the match was confirmed. "It's Miami against the Whitecaps."

It is — band that means that for this final, rosters will matter just as much as superstars like Messi and Muller will.

Here are the key roster players who could decide this game in Vancouver's favor:

Yohei Takaoka, Goalkeeper

He doesn't have the star-making strut of Dayne St. Clair or the steely intensity of Matt Freese, but Takaoka — a runner up in MLS' 2025 Goalkeeper of the Year vote — has quietly become one of the league's strongest shot-stoppers. He conceded a league-best 28 goals in 34 regular-season starts and his playoff antics kept Vancouver alive in some difficult knockout matches this fall.

Takaoka's 2025 performances would be strong in any circumstances, but they're downright exceptional when you consider the defensive changes he's accommodated along the way. He lost Sam Adekugbe and Renso Veselinovic to season-ending injuries in the summer; he lost Tristan Blackmon, Mathias Laborda and Belal Halbouni to knocks and suspensions in the fall. It never mattered. Takaoka's main center back in the Western Conference Final was midfielder Ralph Priso and Takaoka still looked like a keeper in control.

Andres Cubas, Defensive Midfield

Most conversations about Vancouver's midfield start and end with U.S. Men's National Team favorite Sebastian Berhalter, and it's easy to see why: his set-piece dominance and wild-eyed commitment have made him a local hero. But all that Berhalter bias keeps people from recognizing the brilliance of Andres Cubas, his steadfast partner in defensive midfield.

Cubas is  the engine behind Vancouver's famous possession play. He's in the 94th percentile for ball interception and the 91st for ball recovery, and that's speaking globally; he's significantly stronger in these fields than many of his Europe-based peers. 

When Vancouver needs an enforcer, it turns to Cubas. He won a whopping 97% of his tackles this season ... and to top it all off, he did that while clocking in at 5-foot-4. The man is unbeatable in transitional moments.