Thomas Muller appears raring to go.
The 35-year-old German superstar, who arrived mid-week to sign with Vancouver, is set to see his first Major League Soccer action when the Whitecaps (13-6-6, 45 points) play host to the Houston Dynamo (7-11-7, 28 points) on Sunday night.
Whitecaps coach Jesper Sorensen confirmed after practice Friday that Muller will play.
“He will be in the squad and he will be on the pitch. For how long, we’re going to find out,” Sorensen said. “Everyone’s excited, everyone wants to go. But we also have to be aware that we have to do the right thing.”
Muller, an attacking midfielder/forward, scored 250 goals in all competitions over 18 seasons with Bayern Munich, winning 13 Bundesliga titles, two UEFA Champions League crowns and leading Germany to the 2014 FIFA World Cup title.
“I was always a competitive guy during my whole life, and my love is to play soccer,” Muller said at an introductory news conference Thursday. “And my body feels, even in (this) stage of my career, too good to retire.”
Fans filled Vancouver’s airport for his arrival Wednesday and the club’s owners, who had previously been looking to sell the franchise, are now looking to take on additional partners and build a new stadium.
“I know that a player with my career coming to Vancouver (is) creating a little bit of a hype,” Muller said. “And we want to stay on the hype train as long as possible.”
The Whitecaps are in second place in the Western Conference, but they’re coming off a 2-1 loss last weekend in San Jose in which they conceded the deciding goal in second-half stoppage time. That snapped their three-match unbeaten streak (2-0-1) in league play.
The Dynamo rallied for a 2-2 draw last Saturday at Austin as Jack McGlynn tallied twice in the final 10 minutes of regulation. That wasn’t enough to snap Houston’s seven-match winless streak in all competitions (0-5-2).
“A little bit of the same story with us at the moment,” said Dynamo coach Ben Olsen, whose team is four points out of the Western Conference’s final playoff berth. “Some good performances, some not so good.”
The clubs met July 16 in Houston with the Whitecaps winning 3-0 behind goals from Emmanuel Sabbi, Sebastian Berhalter and Brian White.
-Field Level Media
