Halford & Brough in the Morning - What Can Whitecaps Fans Expect From Thomas Müller?

Episode Date: August 8, 2025

In hour two, guest hosts Josh Elliott-Wolfe and Randip Janda go to the text message inbox and do some Ask Us Anythings (3:00), plus they speak with Vancouver Whitecaps bench boss Jesper Sørensen (25:14) about what to expect from new star acquisition Thomas Müller.   This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Welcome back to Halford & Brough, Josh Ellie Wolf, Randy Janda, filling in for Mike Halford and Brough. Howford and Brough is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. visit sands dash trustee.com, and this hour of Halpertambruff is for jason.mortmortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. That's jason.orgage. And this is the moment that I have actually forgotten.

Look at that. Wow. I was so enthralled with the text inbox that I screwed this up. We're broadcasting live from the Kintech Studio Kintech Footwear and Orthotics working together with you in step. See, you know what? You're just a good teammate. You saw me floundering off the top of the show, and you were like, I'll mess up one read. It's fine.

I love the horror and panic in his face. There's a certain look to you. And I forgot the Reed's face. Halford does it all the time. Did I have it as well? Yeah, there was like a brief second there. There's an eyebrow raise and then a panic on the lap down. I've seen it from Halford basically every day.

I have to admit, I was researching one of the questions that came in on the Texan box. Which one? There's a certain one from Justin and East Van about. Let's pull that one up, actually. About your personal escapades, potentially? Yes. So the question is, ask us anything for Randeep. I was inspired by Moja's Caterina VitStory from last week.

Yeah. If you were to shoot your shot with JLo and she said yes to a date in Vancouver, where would you go? And what would you do on your date? So I was looking into that text when I got caught with the read, though. And that's why. So you were researching potential date location. I was kind of thinking about like, okay, if you're going to shoot your show, shot with Jennifer Lopez who you got to pull out all the stuff yeah so here's the

thing oh she's what been married four or five times now at this point I think four I feel like there's been some rich dudes like I don't know if the rich dudes are gonna be like you know that Amy yeah there's got to be a level of charm there right so a date centered around that would have to be very like leaning on the local aspects and the good things about your city if you like Stanley Park hmm a nice walk there, a stroll showing off the city has to be a part of it. Okay. All right, but there's got to be some luxury too.

There's got to be some, are you going to the pack rim for drinks or the hotel Georgia? It's an expensive night. Yes. Maybe you're throwing in some charm again, like a cooking class, a private cooking class. Wow. Right? You want some laughs. And then you go to like one of the best restaurants in Vancouver.

Yes. So probably Italian. Yeah. It's not going to be cheap. So if I had to shoot my shot, that's the blueprint right there. All right. because you got to be like in the in the hallmark movie version of this you got to be the the small town guy even though Vancouver's not a small town guy and I wouldn't classify you as a small town guy

you got to be the small town guy that she comes back to after being with the rich businessman yeah I'm offering something else which is not money which is so I promise you can get more money with Ben Affleck yes but you won't get that charm he won't get the yeah he won't get the I'm telling myself a little high here. You can still hit it big. Yeah. You're on TV. Getting in on the ground floor.

So there you go. Those are the four pillars of my... Your J-Lo date. My shoot my shot with J-Lo and how the date would go. I think it's pretty good. I hope it works out. No, I think it is good. I think it is good.

There you go, Justin. Hope it works out. Thank you. Yeah, good luck with that, right? 650, 650. This one from Colin into Watson. Oh, no, sorry, that's what we learned. I'm going to save that.

Never mind. This one, another one from Colin into Austin. I'm going to try surfing later this month. What is one common activity that you have never tried? Ooh. So anything

like heights related for me like bungee jumping or or anything like that, I've never done. Okay, I haven't done that either, but I'm going to go a little bit more basic. So I've I've snowboarded. Never skied in my life. No, actually I guess I have. I've cross-country skied.

I've never skied, skied. Okay. Because if you've snowboarded that Yeah, it's kind of like you just make a choice You're on the mountain Yeah, but still, I feel like You know, being in one of the best skiing destinations On the planet Yeah, you should probably

Snowboard's like, I'm not gonna lie Snowboard, I smashed my face multiple times And I was like, this ain't for me See, I was the opposite, I've skied far more than I've snowboarded I've only snowboarded up once or twice I'm just so bad at it And I was like, I can't see myself doing this Skiing though I was okay

Like I could hold my own I wasn't in mortal danger every time I put on the skis, where a snowboarded, I felt like, I'm going to die. Yeah, pretty much the reverse. I prefer, uh, I've, because I did the cross-country skiing, which is not the same as downhill skiing, but I did, uh, I preferred snowboarding over skiing. I just felt like I was in more control. And I just kind of felt like I looked cooler, which was a big thing for me.

See, I always felt like I was in less control snowboarding because my legs were locked together. With skis, I felt like I had more like, okay, I could like control myself here. Yeah. Maybe it's because I did just done it for so much longer. Sounds like a skill issue. Because I felt like, sure. shirt is absolutely a skill issue. I'm a most unathletic person on the planet. But I'm just saying with snowboards, because my legs are locked together, I can't wrap my head around this. I'm just

constantly falling over. I have no sense of balance. But isn't skiing the opposite where you have a lack of control? And like, I always go back to that Simpsons episode where, you know, Homer's going down the hill. And like, I don't want to be that guy where your legs are going in an opposite directions. That's my, well, that could happen. Sure. I'd like, splay out as I'm going down. I'm like, yeah, I don't love this. I know. I just can't pizza properly. So, yeah, I'm a more, I'm more of a snowboarding guy. I do feel like there's a lot of common activities that I haven't done that I just can't think of, but...

I've never done the gross grind. Really? Nor have I. No, I've I. Too much work. I went out. Too much work. Cowards. I lived in chill hard. You don't have to like go hard. Like just just do it. Nope. You could do it in like an hour and take your time. You don't have to be like 45 minutes. Laddie's in good shape. Josh, you're in great shape. Like what? You guys got to do this man.

I mean, I'm open to it. There was a... Well, Lattie, you've got a family now, so you should probably be responsible. Maybe not do it. Well, I should probably keep myself in shape. He's got kids and stuff, man. It's not that bad. It's not that bad. He's trying to scare him.

There was a summer where everyone at 650 was doing it. We were like keeping track of the times and stuff. And I did not. I was living in Chilliwack, so I didn't do it. I've done like, I would say similar two grouse grind style things in Chilwack. But it's torture? Like what do you mean? You've been tortured?

Like waterboarding? Like mountain related thing. Yeah, I've just been, I've been tortured in Chilohloid. They hiked up Bridal Falls? What are you? I don't follow it in different cold That's what I'm saying Josh is like the head dive

Of a ski lifts That's my thing There's a lot of like Yeah that's my I'm a thrill seeker There's a lot of difficult hikes In Chilliwack Chilawak is a great

hiking location A lot of good places around there So I've been on a lot of hikes In Chilow I'm with you I mean I grew up in Lynn Valley And anyone from that area knows like it's just hike central

Like you're you are literally in the mountains So like everywhere you look Is a hike of some sort Yeah Yeah So we got a text in 6th 50, 650, unsigned Randeep eating ice cream on the seawall

How are you liking the dolphins this year, Ms. Jalo? That's more accurate. That wouldn't be the first question. That would be maybe the second question. You think Tua's got enough in the tank here? You think Tyreek is going to leave? What do you think of Mike McDaniel here?

You out on Mike McDaniel? Actually, don't think about rich athletes. Well, she's a minority owner of the dolphins. You're right. So, hey, maybe you get the inside scoop. Yeah, that could be the next GM. Shoot your shot. Justin In his fan, ask us anything.

When eating pizza, do you fold your pizza slice? No. I do. New York guy. Yeah, I do. Whatever gets the food in my mouth quicker. You create like a grease funnel when you do that. That's beautiful.

No. Glad of you're selling you on this. It is the only way to eat pizza. And I think I was eating pizza here in the studio a couple years back. And Bick was like, what are you doing? I'm like, fold pizza, man. That's what you do. That's like.

Yeah, well, Bick watches movies at double speed. So don't trust anything he's doing. That is a wild, like, I've never gotten over that. It stayed red and free in my head since, like, he mentioned, this is three years ago. He mentioned this to me when I first started here. We were on the air, and he was talking about how he watches movies at double speed. I'm like, even ones you haven't seen before? He's like, yeah.

I'm like, I don't understand how someone could do that. I can understand, like, a news base or like our show listening to it sped up, but like an artistic venture like that. Why would you watch it at double speed? I don't know, man, listening to Halbro Spet Up would be crazy. I listen to, I do listen to Halbrosepet up. I listen to every podcast sped up. Podcasts that I understand. I understand it.

Yeah. It's just, I don't know. It's more, if you listen, even for a few minutes, you get used to it pretty quick. Like a movie's got, like, pacing. Yeah. It's got, like, important things that do with time. Our show, not as much. Yeah, slow down scene is actually, like, you know, is adds to the drama.

Just imagine the two-time speed. You're just like, oh, this is an ordinary moment. We might as well get chat, GBT, to just give you a summary of a rundown of events. Yeah, I can never, any visual thing, I would never, I would never, uh, I would never, two-time speed that. But definitely a fold a pizza. Yeah. I don't know how we got to this part of the question, but yeah, I would also fold a pizza.

I generally like the more like, uh, Napoli style of pizza. Is that what it is, Neapolitan style of pizza? Sure, like the, the, the, super thin, you mean? Yeah, yeah. Thin oven being. Yeah, you can fold it over like four times. Yeah, I love those. So generally you kind of have to fold those.

Otherwise, like flop and about. True. It's just not a good time. So I lean fold too. Okay. Okay, ask us anything, this one from Asan and Coquitlam. Our group chat was debating how many players from the 2010 Team USA team would have made Team Canada. Lots of debates on how many of the Americans would have cracked Canada.

Only two we all agreed on were Ryan Miller and Patrick Kane. So are there any more? So Ryan Miller had a 929 save percentage that year. He was elite. He won the Vesna. like we're talking the best goaltender in the league. Who's he bumping though? Because Lou was on that team, Martaam Bruder, and Mark Andre Fleury.

I kind of think I... It's not Lou. I lean Flurry. So, okay, that year, Bruder played 77 games. So many games. And he had a 916 save percentage. You're not bumping that guy either. So I think it's Mark Andre Fleury, but like the other two guys are absolute horses on that team.

So... We can go to the goalie expert. Laddie? Miller had an extremely high peak. That was kind of in the time where he was... That was his best year? Yeah, that was his best year. As much as I love Flurry, that was still kind of early on in his career,

so maybe give the nod to Miller. Like I said, at his peak, he was one of the best ever. It wasn't an extremely long peak. He played for Buffalo, so he didn't really get a lot of success. It's very difficult to be amazing in Buffalo. So, yeah, I can see an argument where that makes sense. Okay, so that was the goalie. Patrick Kane goes in.

Patrick Kane has to. to go in. He has to. And you can really take, so you look at the forward group. I think the, the easy option to take out is probably Brendan Morrow. That would be like a different style of game, obviously. But I think that is the guy that is easiest to take off the 2010 roster. The other guy I would throw in there. Okay, hold on though. Danny Heatley's on that team. True. So if you're going winger for winger, are you taking Pat Kane in and Danny Heatley off? Yeah. I guess. Like, if I'm doing positionally, that's maybe one move.

Yeah. Okay. So still, in my, in my crusade to get Brendan Morrow off the roster. What do you have against Carlisle, Saskatchewan's Brendan Morrow? Apparently, I'm really against him. But in my quest to get him off the roster, I would also put Ryan Kessler, especially in 2010, on the roster above Brendan Morrow. Okay, that's more of a like for like change.

You need some grease on that team. Mike Richards was on the 2010 team. Morrow, obviously, greasy element. Kessler brings a higher end that one I approve that one I can go with So but then you kind of look at the rest of the American roster and it's like okay

they had Jack Johnson Tim Gleason Tim Gleason believe it or not not making the Canadian roster Eric Johnson Zach Porese Ryan Malone Jamie Langanbruner

Joe Pavelski Pavelsky is one that's like well maybe Pavelsky but it's difficult it's really difficult when you look at the Canada roster from 2010 It's just like, who are you taking off to put Joe Pavelsky, who was still kind of early in his career, onto that team? And I don't know if I see enough, I don't know if I see an easy option there.

Ryan Whitney, Ryan Suter. Do you put Ryan Suter on there? So, okay, I was thinking about this, and it was like that era of national defensemen was really good. Dan Hamhuis was on the team. We know Shay Weber, like, it was a really solid back end. The one guy you would maybe consider taking off as Dan Boyle, but Boyle was good. Like, he was almost a 60-point defenseman at that point. So that was the original thought I had,

but I'd probably keep Boyle on that team and not put Souter on it. Because the Canada defense is just insane. It was Duncan Key, Shea Weber, Brent Seabrook, Drew Dowdy, Chris Bronger, Dan Boyle, as you mentioned, and Scott Niedermeyer. So it's like, well, I don't know, man. Those are all amazing defensemen. Why would I take any of them off? And then you can go through the rest of the American roster,

and I just don't see anyone else that, Like maybe Phil Kessel, if you're a big Phil Kessel fan. But again, the issue is, who are you taking off the Canadian roster to put on to substitute in America? He doesn't crack Team Canada for me. Yeah. Like I think he's even at that point when he was near his closer to his peak, it comes down to three players, the ones we mentioned. Patrick Kane, Ryan Miller, and Ryan Kessler as well. Yeah.

So we put three on. there. But even the Ryan Miller one, that one's debate. Like, all of them are debatable still, because we mentioned Danny Heatley coming off for Patrick Kane. Like, Danny Heatley was a point per game player in 2010, too. So it's, uh, it's difficult. Team Canada was a very stacked

in 2010. Robin Surrey's saying he put Zach Parisi on Team Canada. All right, who are you taking off though? That's the thing. Yeah, right? I mean, Prise was good. That's, uh, that's fair, but I, and honestly, like, some of the elite players on the American roster, it's probably like, well, we're splitting hairs if you're substituting a Canadian for one

of them. But regardless, it's a, it's a difficult conversation and a good question. All right. Speaking of good questions, Jason, I love these hard-hitting questions. Here's the text. I overheard this conversation between my two kids, age seven and ten. What would be worse? A world without screens or a world without French fries. Define screens? You mean like TV screens? I think I mean screen doors. Yeah, because I'm wondering like. Probably screens, yeah. Computer screens, TV screens, iPads. Yeah. Because I think generally for kids now, it's just like considered screen time, which would be any screen. I mean, I would take away

the French fries. Oh, no, I'm a vegetarian man. I need French fries? I love French fries. You're taking away all screens. So that means you'd never look at a computer or TV, a movie. A phone? Okay, but here's the thing. What would you do? I can eat more French fries because that implies that I'm going to have more exercise because there's not time me sitting and watching television. But Randi, that means you'd never be able to watch sports again unless you

were there in person. Or you know what I'd be doing? You know what I'd be doing? for French fries. You know what I'd be doing? I'd be playing sports and actually dating J-Lo. That is the difference. There's a lot of screens are holding you back. Screens are holding me back for my dream. Yeah, no, that's what I was saying. I've had this epiphany right now. We needed to have a talk. Screens are holding you back from your potential J-Lo date. Jason, there you go. There's my answer. I mean, it seems like a pretty weighted, like, I mean, screens are like way higher than French, I mean, granted, this is a seven-and-year-old talking, So I'm sure this didn't come into their coming to mind.

But screens and French fries are not exactly on a level playing field. I'm a big. I'm a big supporter of Big Potato. All right. So for me. Shout out potatoes. I'm a big potato guy out here. We're trying to get a potato sponsorship on the show forever.

So this is how you do it. This is the road. Randi will sacrifice. Bigger russet potato guy over here. Yeah. Randiip will sacrifice his career for a year if we get a potato sponsorship. You heard it here first. I can't tell you about the Cuff game last night because I,

I was eating French fries. It was a visitor. They were on the road, and so I was not able to watch it, but I can tell you about these delicious French fries I had. Ask us anything. This one from Sean, I love a good futures bed on a scale of 1 to 10,

with one being impossible and 10 being take it to the bank. How likely do you see this bet hitting? So I guess it's a parlay for Sean here. We don't have to go into all the odds and the likelihood of the actual bet hitting. But let me go through each of these individually. Okay. And you tell me how confident on scale of 1 to 10 you are in these hitting.

The first one, the Vancouver Canucks, to finish with 100 points or more. I'm going to say six. Six, okay. That's more than five. I think they're going to be a little bit closer than last year. I think so. That'd be tough to do. but it's not out of the realm of possibility.

Yeah. Yeah, we'll go around 5 or 6. I'm a little bit more optimistic than most people. Yes. I'm going around 5 or 6, too. Next one, Luca Donchich to win NBA MVP. He's clearly on a no potato diet the way he's been looking for right now. MVP, still on a team with LeBron.

LeBron's a facilitator, though. I'm going to go probably 7 on this? Yeah. Like, I just, I feel like playing in L.A. is different. You get more media coverage. You got a lot of people voting for you. there. That's true. I would go, I feel like I'm a little lower just because I feel like SGA is going to have another great year. Yokic is just always Yokic, so we'll see. I'm going to go

four on that one. The Eagles to win the Super Bowl. Young team really haven't lost much of anything, but it's the NFL. Yeah, it's so hard to win back to back years. I'm going to go three. Okay. I was going to say, I'm going to go four on this one. So just a little bit higher than you, but I think it's going to be tough. The benefit they have is that they're in the NFC and there isn't really an elite team in the NFC outside of them. There's a lot of good teams,

but I don't know if there's a team that has the upside that the Eagles have. So they have an easy road to the Super Bowl. I just don't know if they're going to win. This one, you can speak to this. Chelsea to reach the Champions League final. Just to reach. Okay, this is one of the big,

or like, one of the tough. tournaments on the planet because they're all the best teams in Europe I'm going to say two like it is tough they won the club World Cup the summer there's so many really good teams yeah two

two okay not optimistic and I don't like Chelsea to begin yeah that's a big part of it that does feel like part of it the LA Dodgers to win the world series I'm going eight really that high I really think that like I just feel like they're going to turn it on

when they get to the playoffs okay there's no like clear number one in the AL, which top dog, the Dodgers, they turn it up at the right time. I'm going to go lower. I'm going to go six, but yeah, I'm leaning on the more likely than not. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Like, I do think they should be the favorite going into it.

And finally, Scotty Schaeffler to win any major in 2026. So you won two this year. You won, yeah. The PGA Championship and the Open Championship. Yeah. I would go nine, maybe even 10. I'm going 10. Like, that's going to, he's going to get one unless he gets injured.

You're going nine on that? Uh, come on. Like, I'm going 10. Yeah. Like, he's going to win one. He's just, he's won the Masters in 2024. Like, he's always around there. 10.

He's doing it. Okay. All right. So there are your options. The likelihood for all of those hitting at the same time, I would go one. I'm not, I'm not that confident in all of those things happening simultaneously. Uh, this one. Snoop the dog, ask us anything.

If you had to replace one of Halford or Brough, who spot would you want to take? Well, both of them. Yep. Both. Is that an option? Well, Brough definitely has to... And he will do. Brough definitely has to ease your job.

Alford has to do all the reeds. Yeah. Yeah, I would say if you guys wanted to pick one of them, I would recommend picking Brough because he doesn't do anything. Yeah. As a person that's sitting in that sea right now, I'd take Brough. Like, this is...

If you got to get up in the morning, which that's been the toughest part of this thing. I don't want either of their jobs specifically for that reason. Yeah, I've been, like, crashing hard, man. Like, this has been a tough week. Have you guys been napping all week? No, I haven't. I have been.

I'm not built for this world, this high stakes world of waking up at 430. I made the Cardinal sin of having a late coffee last night. Oh, yeah, you don't do that. No, I was at a friend's event, and I was like, you know, I'll stay up. I'm going to crash. I had an espresso at like 7 p.m. Oh, that's way too long. Oh, man.

I used to be a big nap guy when I first started. mornings, but now I just, I don't, I power through the day, and I just go to bed much earlier. You're a beast. And I find I'm better off for that. I do, I do find when I... I'm a bad napper, though, that's why, like, I can't nap properly. If I nap, it'll end up being three hours and I wake up more tired than when I started, so... Adok hasn't seen a Canucks third period or overtime in five years? Yeah, I mean, that's the tough part during the season, like, staying up for that third period's rough, especially if any time I look at the calendar and I see 730 start. I'm like, oh, God, that means we go up to

like 10.30, it's brutal. That is true. Yeah, it's, uh, I, I applaud you guys for it. I can never do it full time. Maybe I could, but I just don't want to. And for that reason, uh, bruff's, uh, would be just, because then you can wake up in here at least like, yeah, I don't got to be like, on to start the show. There's going to be at least a minute before I start speaking. Well, if things go wrong, you got to have a Mount Bruff. So you got to contact that. This is what I was going to say. Do you have to fill the role of Bruff? Like, do you have to be curmudgini? Who said he's curmudgeoning? I didn't think about that. that nobody nobody has ever said that like i feel like i could fill the role of halford

better than i could fill the role of brough if that makes sense but i think you work enough morning shows you'll probably become very crumissioning maybe that's the that's the key yeah bruff used to be very happy before he started doing he was basically ned flanders we've thrown around the idea of like doing a like a a week long kind of shakeup i forget what that was called uh of like different host, hosting at different times and doing all that. Crossover. That's when we had it. That was actually a very famous thing at the old station, the crossovers, which I worked many times. And sometimes

they were magic. Those preparing hosts together that should not, under any circumstance, be in the same room together could be very funny. Yeah. And yeah, it was definitely a favorite of listeners of the old station. And one thing I've thought about is like, what if Brough is just like a super happy guy after noon? And we just don't know because we only hear them from six to nine.

Yeah, his voice pitches a little higher, more energy. He's like, you know what, Alias Pedersen is awesome. He's a really great player. I think he's going to bounce back. You know what? I like this of Ander Cain signing. It's going to be great. Bruff, are you okay?

Yeah, what's happening? The sad club, no. This is the happy club. Yeah. Okay, keep the text coming in. 650, 650. We'll hit more, ask us anythings as the show goes on. But on the other side, we're going to speak to Ypresper Sauranson,

Vancouver Whitecaps head coach about the big edition in Thomas Mueller. It is Halford and Brough, Josh L.A. Wolf, Randip Jandon, SportsNet, 650. On the move, Thomas Muller, magnificent. That is how you shatter the deadlock, a buying goal of sublime quality. Welcome back to Halford and Brough. No, Alfred, no Brough. It's Josh Alia Wolf and Randeep Janda coming to you live from the Kintech Studio.

Halpert & Brough is brought to you by Sands and Associates. BC's first entrusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 5-star reviews. Visit sands-trustee.com. And this hour of Halpertembroff is for Jason. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. That's jason. Dot mortgage.

You heard the Thomas Mueller goal coming in. The hype is sweeping around the city and the man that will be his head coach, your head coach of the Vancouver. Whitecaps is Yesper Sorensen. We go to the hotline powered by Power West Industries and welcome him in. I appreciate you taking the time. Yesper. How are you? I'm good. Thanks.

No problem, man. Yeah. So we've been talking so much about Thomas Mueller the past couple weeks. What's your excitement level and the team's excitement level to make it official and finally bring him in? I think there's been so much talk about it for a while now. I think that everybody is just happy that it's finally. announced and public right i think you know everybody's excited about it um i guess it's fair to

say that it's uh it's one of the biggest sports names ever to come to vancouver and i think that it's yeah if you're not excited about that i don't know what could excite you so i think it's everybody is uh yeah uh of course excited and uh and we yeah and we want to we he also wants just to to do whatever we can to make this uh this season a little bit more special than normal. Capps fans are excited. I think, you know, soccer fans in North America are excited. But when you got word that this was a realistic possibility,

Axel Schuster came up to you and said, hey, we might have a shot at this. What was your reaction? Yeah, it was, it was okay. Let's go. Let's go for it. It's not that we find Thomas Mooster. Schuller, it's not that we find Thomas Mueller.

It's everybody knows who he is and what he can bring in and about his. It's more about that. He opens up also for it being an opportunity that may be coming here. And then, of course, you have to look within yourself and see how can we do best possible to make ourselves attractive for a player like Thomas Mueller. That's definitely what I was thinking about. and how can we and how can we not persuade him but I think that's or sell something to him

because he's way too clever for that I think that it's about talking to him about what I think is realistic expectations and how we can and how we can succeed together that's what I think

I think is important when you talk to a player like that and I yeah it was exciting and I was also surprised that it could be an option but when I told that it might be then I think it was just about

how can we put ourselves in a position so he he likes what he hears from us and also you know and we have a realistic chance of getting him so you talk about making the team attractive and making it a desirable location for him to come and obviously the way the team

has been playing is a part of it but what else was part of that that pitch to him to come to Vancouver? You know, I think for me, of course, it's when you hear that it's an option, that Vancouver is an option for Thomas Miller. Then you know what the guy is about. Then it's not about going to Middle East to make money.

It's not about going somewhere to where it's more about glamour. Then it's about him. wanting to play football and I think we made ourselves attractive by the way we played and the season we've had because it's a guy

who's used to winning and wants to win and is ultra competitive and always wants to be in the hunt for winning something so I think we already made ourselves

interesting for him and then it was more about for my take on how I see him play how I can see him fit in with the team and how he can help us on the levels that he can because there are so many levels to this

there's on the pitch, there's off the pitch that's the way he behaves when he's on the pitch and the competitiveness he has and you know the experience he has but also his football qualities and for me that was what it was about and not trying

to you know sell a lot of stuff that that we couldn't live up to anyways. It was about getting expectations right if he chose to come here. And then, of course, also it was up to our owners to make it possible, right? So I think that's definitely who we also need to address the here, that our owners made it possible for us to make this move. In some of the comments after the signing,

and I know the Whitecaps video staff did a great job of putting up the conversation, he references a conversation with you, connecting with you and how that played a role and ultimately understanding where he'd fit in and why Vancouver was a fit. What was that conversation and how did it play out? Because it seemed like it had a pretty big role and impact with him. Yeah, as I told you before, I'm not going to talk about what I'm talking to players about because all of a sudden players, they can't trust what they tell me when it's private. But just getting around it, it was for me, not a question about persuading him to go anywhere.

It was up to him to make a choice. And then it was more for me a question about how can we get expectations right if you choose to come here? What can you expect for me and what can you expect from your teammates? Obviously, he knew, and we also told him, I also told him that we are very excited. We would like, you know, it would be great for everyone. Everybody would be excited if he came. And but I think he knew that. So I think it was more about what could the expectations be.

How do it fit in? How can you, yeah, what role should you play? Well, do you see yourself play in the team? how can we maximize what you can bring to the table for us and I think that was it was more about football and as I told you before if Thomas Mueller wants to go to Vancouver it's you know it's for my as a coach

it's about football and then what I wanted to talk to him about was it was about football and the game and how I saw him and I see him as a player and how we hopefully can can make things best possible for him and the team. So let's turn our attention to the on-the-pitch side of this. How do you see him fitting in and will there be any adjustments made to how the team plays?

Of course there will be adjustments. We will adjust to when we have some special players and we'll try to adjust to get the best out of his abilities, of course, because otherwise we shouldn't go for a player like that. But on the other hand, we also have a very good and well-functioning team where it's also important, you know, that the reason he's coming here is because he can see that we're a good team and we're doing well. We have opportunities to be competitive in the league, and we don't have to change all of that. So it's how do we maximize what he's.

best at and how can he has the biggest impact positively on our team and that's that's you know what we talked about also how I how I think about and we think about in the coaching staff and we already now played a little bit flexible formation wise we played a couple of different formations and and we also look to see how we can which formation will fit not just Thomas, but everybody in the team best. So we have the strongest possible team, right? That's what it's about. And then, of course, I think the strongest possible team will also be

if we maximize what Thomas can bring in to the team. So it's going to be, of course, maybe some adjustments. And we have time for that. We are in a position where we have opportunities to, you know, to not experiment, but where we have opportunities to, you know, work a little bit around a couple of options, also how to do it tactically. There's so much versatility in his game over the years, but at this point in time, you know, we know that he's put, what, 250 goals in the back of the net for Byron Munich,

but he's a great playmaker. As of right now, though, at this point in his career, what do you think his best attribute is? Yeah, I still think that he's an excellent. extremely good finisher. You know, he can finish both feet and he also is very good with his head, has a great header within the box. But you're right. He's a very good playmaker as well.

I think his passing game is good. His football IQ is good. He sees the game, reads the games fast and sees options before maybe some others does. And that gives him, you know, an edge. in his playmaking. So I think that's his best attributes. And I think overall, his competitiveness is one of the things that really stand out. Because Thomas, for me, is not an individual player.

He's more relational player. He's always been great playing within the team and playing within his teammates, but not a guy that dribbles three, four men like you see. some other guys do. So it's also important for him to play well within the system, within his team. But if we does, I think right now he's a great playmaker and assist maker for others. But still, he's a good finisher as well. So that's the on the pitch aspect.

Off the pitch, what do you think the signing can do for some of the younger players on this team? And can he be someone that helps them grow as well? Yeah, I definitely hope so. I definitely think so and I definitely also hope so I think with his experience who would not like to

have a guy like that to look at every day in training sessions who would not like to have a guy like that maybe giving you an advice or two I just you know if you think about the game of football and how many players

in the game of football would you have an idea where you're can sit down and maybe talk about the game the way you can with Thomas. It's not many. So I think that's also something. He could be a great leader of the pitch as well, you know, just with his behavior. I think one of the most important things for me is that, you know, the career Thomas has had so far,

you cannot plan for it. You can put in the work and you can hope for the best. and all the things he's won he showed that he's a champion on the pitch but I think more importantly I think that he's shown that he's a champion outside of the pitch he's always been an excellent example

for others and you know a genuine guy and you know well respected not just for his football and I think that's very important you know for us as well that he's also

the character and he's the role model that others can look at and hopefully, you know, learn from and get good advice from and grow from. Hey, Yesper, we really appreciate taking the time and all the best moving forward. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. There is Yesper Sorensen, Vancouver Whitecaps, head coach talking to us about the addition of Thomas Mueller and supposedly from what we've heard, Mueller, a big fan of Yesper

Ornson as well. I wouldn't get into the specifics of the conversation they had, but as I mentioned during the interview, clearly left a real good impression from Thomas Mueller as well. He's referenced it a couple of times. But that is, you know, that's where this team's at. It's a lot of positive. They play a match tomorrow against San Jose earthquakes. Still some injuries to deal with Ali Ahmed. Sam Atikubi, obviously, is done for the year.

Ryan Gould is injured. But, you know, some, a real boost for this organization heading into that match. What a freaking boost. Yeah, there it is. Oh, man, I didn't even notice. I really leaned into that one, too. You said boost, have a bit. I really leaned into that one.

I thought you were begging for it. No, no. That happened naturally. And then you got the match on the 17th against Houston, which will be his debut. Which is going to be big. It's going to be huge. And now I did see, we were talking about it yesterday. I was like, oh, there's a decent amount of tickets still left.

And now there are not a lot of tickets left. I do wonder if they opened the upper bowl. Because I think it was still lower bowl unless I completely miss. Last time I checked, saw it. It was not, but that might be something to monitor because this is the moment, right? This is the time. And remember, we're still a week away, though. Why wouldn't they do it?

I mean, if there's the demand for it. Yeah. I assume they would if they sell out the lower bowl, especially if they're still, like, there's over a week to go. You still got time and there's still going to be hype building. And talking to Yesper there, we've talked to a lot of people this week. Axel Schuster has been on the station as well. And there is a, it's a palpable excitement around the white caps.

within the white caps and it's a really exciting time for the Vancouver white caps. And it does seem like a lot of this signing was helped or got across the line in part because the white caps have been good this year. If they were not where they were in the standings, it seems like maybe they still end up getting Thomas Mueller, but it seems like from what we've heard, the likelihood of that would have been way lower. So the job they've been able to do this season has gone along. long way. And Sorensen mentioned something there that, you know, if winning was not a priority

for Thomas Mueller, he would have gone somewhere else. He would have gone to the Middle East, which is paying ridiculous amounts of money right now. Darwin Nunez went from Liverpool, and he's going to be making a lot of money. And he did not have that much success. Even though he won with Liverpool, he was not a key part of that team. My point is, players that are not even having good runs are getting paid a lot in the Middle East right now. So the fact that he came here and said, hey, I've made a lot of money in my career, but you know what I've also done? I've won.

And that's important moving forward. That tells you that this organization really tapped into, hey, do you want to come here and have a good experience? Do you want to win something? Because we can give you a really good opportunity with that. And it does seem like this is a, from all aspects, this is just going to be a very productive signing for the team. We've talked about, like, hey, the future impacts of like,

hey, is it going to be more likely that you can get some bigger name players to come to Vancouver in the future or at least consider Vancouver in the future? And I think undoubtedly the answer to that is yes. But then there's also the aspects of like, oh, off the field, he's like, this is a young team, uh, the Vancouver white caps. And he's going to help this team grow. And like he's a, he's, sometimes we talk about stars and guys coming over from Europe. And it's like, well, they're just kind of finishing their career and they're, they're wrapping it up. They're kind of checked out to an extent, this doesn't feel like that. It feels like he's going to be very involved in the team and helping the team while he's here.

Yeah, there's a different, you could say maybe different types of players come to North America and MLS for different reasons. I think there was a previous generation that did see it as a retirement league, right? You want to go out there and hey, maybe you live in L.A., maybe you live in Miami now, and you're just kind of chilling. Thomas Mueller is not wired that way, and Sorensen mentioned that as well, where, there's an intensity he brings that he's not

that type of guy. Like if he was going to do that, he would have flew off to another market and said, give me the most money possible. I want to lay on the beach when I'm not at the field. And like there is going to be another element there. What excites me though, you mentioned the kind of the youth

and the ability to be impacted or be affected by having a strong leader in the room. That's a really exciting part for this organization. Not only for the players and them developing with the white caps. But in the global football industry and the way that revenues are made, like if you can develop players like Alfonso Davies, you sell them on, you get more

financial might, obviously you want them on your roster to win. But if they become really, really good, Europe is still the destination. So there's an element of if they are able to tap into his mentality and as a collective get better, you have team success, but you have individual success as well. which is, you know, maybe it's the cart before the horse, but there is a trickle-down effect that happens when you bring in a player like this. Yeah, and like you mentioned, it can kind of have a lasting impact for years if you're able to, if someone comes in like this and is able to help develop players

and obviously that's not going to be his main job, as main job is going to be to be Thomas Miller and be good on the pitch and help the white caps win. But also, again, the reason this is another reason, reason this is exciting is because it doesn't seem like he's just in it for himself. It's because that there's going to, there seems like there's going to be a team level impact from Thomas Mueller. One of the most famous personalities in all of global soccer is Latan Ibrahimovic.

And he is known as a very intense character. Like there was even stories of him doing like roundhouse kicks on his teammates just to keep them on like on there. I don't think Thomas Mueller is coming in to do roundhouse kicks on the on the white house. But my point is, though, like, everybody was on edge in Europe or with, you know, L.A. When Zlatan was around, because he's just that type of guy. Yeah. Thomas Mueller's the opposite.

He keeps everybody loose, right? We heard Manuel Veth with us a couple of days ago talking about just his impact on Alfonso Davies, Jamal Musiala, like, these younger players could be themselves and grow effectively that way. It's the opposite of, like, you know, being intimidated by somebody. It's just like, no, man, you do you. going to do me. I'm going to hold you accountable, but we're going to have a good relationship. Like that's on a winning team, that's a very, very healthy

situation. Yeah, and we talk about not to bring it back to the Canucks, but I'm going to bring it back to the Canucks. We talk about trying to create an atmosphere for the Canucks where it's like, the vibes were so bad with Vancouver Canucks last season. And I think to an extent as well, and look, it's been

better this year because the Whitecaps have been good, but the vibes maybe around the team with the white caps haven't been as good lately in recent years for obvious reasons. And so if you can make moves that not only help you on the pitch or on the ice, but also help you create a better atmosphere in the room and kind of bring the team together, that can go a long way. And for the Canucks, I guess their version of it is someone like Marcus Pedersen, who is not the hockey equivalent of Thomas Mueller. But a hopeful vibes fixer,

I think is kind of what they were going for, as well as being a guy that can make an impact on the ice and I think for both of these teams you do want to see a level of the culture get raised but also the vibes around the team and the enjoyment you get watching this team and the enjoyment they have while they're playing you want to see that raised as well well being in the room when media is allowed in obviously like you could see the and feel the sense of the difference between the two years when the Canucks were having success and they had certain times. types in that locker room, Ian Cole. Nikita Zedorov on a winning team is a very positive experience.

When the team is losing, I don't know if Nikita's the same type of personality. There's some thoughts maybe in Calgary, but, you know, he carries weight, right? And the following year, we saw when those types of individuals are taken out of the room, it's hard to replace those guys. And you're right, Marcus Pedersen is a step in that direction, but you need players like that. You need, like, kind of floor general, so to speak, or guys. that can be a representation of the coach and I think with Mueller

you've got a player that is going to command respect just through his reputation like right off the bat won every like one of the serial winners in global soccer and that's not even like a that's not hyperbole. Is it safe to assume he'll be a leader in the room?

Very safe like everyone will just listen to him because he's Peter Mueller yeah well Thomas but I'm sorry Tim Thomas movie Peter Mueller or somebody else but he he's going to be like he doesn't have to say a word, like especially that generation of player

is just going to look to him. Like I would love to be in the room when he walks in the first time because there's going to be guys that watched him play when they're like 10 years old. Yeah. And be like, I can't believe he's here.

I'm not saying a word in front of them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think the, the closest you could get to, you know, a Canucks comparison would be if they got Sidney Crosby where it's just like this guy is won everywhere. He's still good, can still make an impact. He's also going to come in

and it's going to be insane that he's in Vancouver. Yeah, like, that might sound very extreme to hockey fans, but I think it's a fair comparison. If that generation, if an Ovi or a Sidney Crosby or somebody of that nature walks into your room, you're just like, do I say something? How do I approach this person? You're in awe.

Mueller brings that for a soccer player. Somebody who has seen him do those things, when they walk into the room, you're probably going to shut up first and spoke when spoken. do. That's the type of the type of reputation he has. So yeah, once again, Thomas Mueller's debut with the Vancouver White Caps will be on August 17th at BC Place when they take on the Houston Dynamo. The other team that occupies BC Place, the BC Lions, they got a big win in Hamilton

last night. We will talk to J.C. Abbott about that next. It is Halford & Brough. Josh Elliott Wolf, Randy Chandon, Sportsnet, 650.