Three key Miami 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 Müller. But this match is about more than their long-standing rivalry.

"It's not about Messi against Thomas Müller," Müller said 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 Miami's favor:

Maxi Falcon, defense

Inter Miami's central defense was the topic of much discussion (and much chagrin) at the start of the 2025 season. Coach Javier Mascherano rotated through nearly a dozen defensive lines in the spring, and his results showed it: Miami suffered three losses and four draws in the league across April and May.

Consistency still isn't Mascherano's jam; he's made several tweaks to his defense late in the season, including subbing in goalkeeper Rocco Ríos Novo for the previously preferred veteran Oscar Ustari. But he has stuck by one player clear through the playoffs, and that player is Uruguayan center back Maxi Falcon.

Falcon isn't the biggest, strongest or most technically gifted defender in MLS, but he does have one thing that his league peers lack: an impeccable sense of gamesmanship. He's mastered the devilish art of getting into opponents' heads, particularly in big games, and he's known for his ability to turn 90 minutes of near-endless nagging into a red card for the imposing team. Love him or hate him, it's impossible to deny that Falcon has a real flair for the fiendish things in life. Miami will need that to take down Vancouver's mentality monsters.