Your Wednesday Kickoff: Can the West catch up to the East in 2024?

What you need to know

New York City FC sign Austrian winger Wolf

New York City FC have acquired attacker Hannes Wolf from German Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach. Wolf, a 24-year-old former Austrian youth international, is under contract through the 2027 MLS season with an option for 2028. Wolf arrives with 51 goals and 40 assists in 238 professional matches, having also played extensively for Austrian Bundesliga side RB Salzburg and Championship side Swansea City.

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Can the West catch up to the East in 2024?

No.

Good, glad we could get that out of the way. Big shoutout to Betteridge's law of headlines for helping us out there. That’s our show folks, we’ll see some of you tomorrow. You can stop here if you want, but the rest of us are going to hang around to talk this out a little more.

We talked about this a lot last year. The gap between the Eastern Conference and Western Conference would have killed Evel Knievel if he tried to jump it. Based on points alone, sixth-place Atlanta United would have finished tied for top four out West. If they had played a full Western Conference schedule, they likely would have finished even higher. And Atlanta looked incredibly mid for 80% of the season.

When it came down to MLS Cup between each conference’s third seed, it felt like LAFC had a shot because they’re LAFC. Realistically, the Crew were far and away the better side at that point. If it had been any other team besides LAFC, there wouldn’t have even been a pause in picking Columbus. Honestly, it would have been hard to consider any non-LAFC team in the West a favorite against the majority of the Eastern Conference playoff teams.

That’s a little harsh and clearly based on highly subjective opinions and hypotheticals. Welcome to The Daily Kickoff. Our power comes from the fact you technically can’t prove us wrong. So, let’s take it one step further and put the 2023 West up against the 2023 East on a neutral field in a Best of 1001 series. Here’s how we envision the results…

FC Cincinnati over St. Louis CITY SC
Seattle Sounders FC over Orlando City SC
Columbus Crew over LAFC
Philadelphia Union over Houston Dynamo FC
New England Revolution over Real Salt Lake
Atlanta United over Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Nashville SC over FC Dallas
Sporting KC over New York Red Bulls
San Jose Earthquakes over Charlotte FC
Portland Timbers over CF Montréal
Minnesota United FC over NYCFC
D.C. United over Austin FC
LA Galaxy over Chicago Fire FC
Inter Miami CF over Colorado Rapids
[Bye] over Toronto FC

Final tally here: East wins 8-6. Five of the West’s six wins came in spots eight through 13. And they really only got a win before that based on Seattle having better underlying numbers than Orlando and because I kind of felt bad. That one was a toss-up. Same for SKC over New York. A few tweaks here and there and we could have easily been at 10-4.

Right now, with the full understanding that most everyone’s rosters are incomplete, it doesn’t feel like the gap has closed this offseason. It’s been a quiet month out West. And even LAFC, who are as sure a bet as any, have serious flaws they still need to address. There are questions along the back line after the departure of Giorgio Chiellini and Diego Palacios. We don’t know what level Hugo Lloris will be at in goal. A midfield that struggled last year feels paper thin. Carlos Vela may not be around. And things are reportedly getting weird with Denis Bouanga’s future. They have a ton of work to do.

The fallback here, of course, is Seattle. And even though it’s fair to feel good about their roster and their new probable DP signing, Pedro de la Vega, we don’t know how the 22-year-old will take to the league and we don’t know if he’ll be the answer to their issues in attack. No one is a sure thing in this conference.

If it sounds like we’re complaining, that’s only because that’s our default. Trust me when I say we’re excited to see if an entire conference can finish within six points of each other from top to bottom. Honestly, we’re getting a little emotional just thinking about it. We have no idea what’s going to happen, but it seems like extreme parity is going to be the norm in the West this year.

At least for now. There’s still a long way to go this offseason.

But not that long.

Other Things

LA Galaxy sign forward Berry: After acquiring his rights via trade in December, the LA Galaxy have signed forward Miguel Berry through the 2025 MLS season with an option for 2026. Berry, 26, has recorded 11 goals and three assists in 75 career regular-season matches played across four MLS seasons with the Columbus Crew (2021-22), D.C. United (2022) and Atlanta United (2023).

San Jose Earthquakes sign goalkeeper Yarbrough: The San Jose Earthquakes have signed veteran goalkeeper William Yarbrough through the 2024 MLS season with an option for 2025. The 34-year-old former US international joins San Jose after his rights were acquired from the Colorado Rapids in exchange for a natural third-round selection in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft.

Orlando City sign Halliday to new contract: Orlando City SC have signed homegrown right back Michael Halliday to a new contract through 2025 with options for 2026 and 2027. Halliday, 20, enters his fourth season in the league after signing his first homegrown contract in mid-2020. The Apopka, Fla. native enjoyed his best year yet in 2023, tallying two assists in 18 regular-season appearances (nine starts).

Minnesota United sign Costa Rican midfielder Bran: Minnesota United FC have signed midfielder Alejandro Bran on loan from Costa Rican top-flight side Herediano. Bran's deal runs through the 2024 MLS season and has a purchase option. The 22-year-old arrives with 5g/8a in 82 matches, raising his profile at Herediano after stops at AD Guanacasteca, ADR Jicaral and Municipal Grecia.

Minnesota United acquire forward Adebayo-Smith: Minnesota United FC have signed forward Jordan Adebayo-Smith following a trade with the New England Revolution, the club announced Monday. He is now under contract through the 2026 MLS season with an option for 2027. To complete the deal, the Loons have sent New England $125,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM) to acquire Adebayo-Smith’s Affiliate Priority Player Rights. The Revs could receive an additional $50k in performance-based GAM as well.

DC United sign MLS SuperDraft pick Crockford: D.C. United have signed goalkeeper Nathan Crockford for the 2024 MLS season with options through 2027. Selected in the third round of the 2024 MLS SuperDraft out of the University of Wisconsin, the 21-year-old had 43 saves over 17 appearances for the Badgers last season.

LAFC hire Chiellini as player development coach: Giorgio Chiellini will be remaining with the LAFC organization, as the club announced Tuesday the legendary former defender has been hired as a player development coach. The 39-year-old assumes the new role following his December retirement after initially joining LAFC in June 2022. He will work with manager Steve Cherundolo and the coaching staff to assist in first-team player development.

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