Your Wednesday Kickoff: Breaking down the midweek Matchday's most enticing storylines

What you need to know

Soccer

It’s a loaded Wednesday slate. Check out the full schedule here.

Houston Dynamo sign midfielder Moreno

Houston Dynamo FC have signed midfielder Júnior Moreno through 2024 with an option for 2025. The Venezuelan international was out of contract after competing for Saudi Arabian side Al-Hazem FC. MLS teams could sign free agents through the Roster Freeze Date on Sept. 13. Moreno previously spent 2018-23 in MLS, playing in 153 matches across D.C. United and FC Cincinnati.

Toyota Stadium to undergo multi-million dollar renovation

The Frisco City Council has approved a $182 million public-private partnership with FC Dallas to renovate Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. The renovation will begin in 2025. Take a look at what’s changing here.

Your midweek matchday storylines

It’s a busy Wednesday night. There’s a full slate of games for you as we close in on the end of the regular season. After tonight, almost every team will have five games or fewer to go. Here’s what to keep an eye on.

Two marquee games in the West lead the way

The West has the two best matchups of the night. Houston host Vancouver at 8:30 pm ET and Portland welcome the Galaxy at 10:30 pm ET.

I’m not sure how much I really need to sell you on these, to be honest. If you’ve been reading The Daily Kickoff, you know Houston and Vancouver are fighting for the final home playoff spots in the West and are leaning on two new DPs to get them there. Houston’s Ezequiel Ponce and Vancouver’s Stuart Armstrong are the keys to contender status for both of these teams.

Meanwhile, you should be well aware Portland and LA score in bunches and sometimes let other teams in on the fun too. The Galaxy have scored more goals than anyone in the West. Portland have scored the second most. Between them, they’ve also allowed 98 goals on the season. It promises to be either a 5-4 goal-fest that lives up to the hype or a 1-0 sleep aid that goes entirely against expectations.

To be honest, the Timbers need this more than the Galaxy. Despite being one of the hottest teams in the league over the last couple of months, they’re all the way down in eighth in the West. They also happen to have maybe the toughest six-game stretch remaining in the league. After this, they’ll take on RSL, Vancouver and Seattle before the season ends. It’s now or never to close the four-point gap between them and the non-Wild Card spots.

Of course, if they do end up in the Wild Card spot and win the play-in game, they’d face the first-place finisher in the West in Round One. That’s very likely going to be the Galaxy. We have a genuine playoff preview here.

The rest of the West has chores to do

While those four teams are out having fun in big games against tough competition, the rest of the West’s playoff teams have to make their bed, empty the dishwasher, vacuum, etc. etc. You get the point. This is a night full of good teams that need to take care of business against not good teams. Only four points separate second place and seventh place in the West. Whoever messes up one of these winnable games tonight will seriously regret it by the end of the season.

To review: Colorado are on the road at SKC, RSL are hosting Dallas, LAFC are at home against Austin and Seattle welcome San Jose. There’s no reason for Colorado, RSL, LAFC or Seattle to drop points here. Colorado are the only team who even have an excuse just by virtue of being on the road. For everyone else, it’s three points or bust against teams whose playoff hopes are either starting to evaporate or have disappeared entirely.

Maybe finally a little bit of clarity in the middle of the East?

It’s a big night for the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference. The fourth-place Red Bulls are three points ahead of Orlando City and New York City FC, and five points ahead of Charlotte. The Red Bulls have played 29 games though and the rest have played 28. They all play their catchup game tonight and one just so happens to be a bonafide six-pointer between two of the teams in that group.

Orlando host Charlotte tonight in their first real MLS test in a while. In their last meeting against a team above eighth place, they drew 1-1 with NYCFC back on July 20. From there, you have to go back to June 28, against NYCFC again, which was a 4-2 loss. The last time they actually beat a team currently above eighth place came…[checking]......hold on here…….[still checking].........[like in real time, I am actually still checking. It’s not even a bit].......ok, I’ve triple-checked here, and, y’all, none of Orlando’s 11 wins this season have against a team currently higher than eighth place in the standings. That makes their marquee win this year a 2-1 win over eighth-place Toronto FC. They have some things to prove.

The good news for them is Charlotte does too. They’ve looked awful in two games with all three of their DPs in the lineup. The Crown dropped games to both Atlanta and Montréal over the last two games. Now, they’re in real danger of falling into a Wild Card spot and wondering how they went from a potential MLS Cup dark horse to fighting to be a sacrificial lamb for Inter Miami.

Meanwhile, NYCFC have to deal with a Union side that can beat anybody on any given night. A win tonight wouldn’t be quite so impressive though. NYCFC have won just twice in their last 12 games.

Maybe tonight though we got some clear results and a clearer hierarchy in the middle of the standings? It’s at least plausible. The most likely outcome though is things stay just as cluttered as ever.

Other Things

Toronto FC sign Edwards, Sharp: Toronto FC have signed defender Nathaniel Edwards and forward Charlie Sharp from MLS NEXT Pro affiliate Toronto FC II.

Claure joins New York City FC ownership group: Marcelo Claure has joined New York City FC’s ownership group and been named co-vice chairman. The transaction sees Claure take approximately 10% holding in City Football Group US Holdco LLC, which has combined ownership over New York City FC and the club’s future stadium in Willets Point, Queens. The new stadium is set to open in 2027.

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