Seattle vs. LA Galaxy: 3 things to watch in Western Conference Knockout Round

The 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs kick off Wednesday with fourth-place Seattle Sounders hosting fifth-place LA Galaxy in a wild-card knockout match.

Since FC Dallas and the Vancouver Whitecaps finished first and second respectively, these two sides earned a bye in the first round of the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Portland Timbers are preparing for their own wild-card knockout game against Sporting Kansas City on Thursday.

With a spot in the Western Conference semifinals on the line, here are three things to watch for Wednesday night at CenturyLink Field:

It's a clash of two titans of the West

Fans of either team will call it an unfortunate circumstance, while supporters of the rest of the West's playoff-bound sides will do a little cheer, but when the night is over, one of the two strongest teams in this conference will be heading home empty-handed in the first playoff round.

Five-time MLS Cup winners and reigning champions LA Galaxy finished low in the standings this year, where one extra win would have put them in a familiar bye-week spot. That final mission ended in failure, however, as Sporting Kansas City defeated the Galaxy 2-1 on MLS Decision Day. As such, the Galaxy now faces the prospect of packing it in less than a week after the playoffs kicked off.

Seattle, too, has struggled, finishing behind the Portland Timbers at year's end. The Sounders have yet to make it to an MLS Cup Final and that will be of some worry to the club's record-breaking audience. When the dust settles, the Western playoffs will be considerably easier for the remaining sides, as one giant falls at the expense of the other.

Both teams boast star-studded scoring threats

If there's one thing these two sides know how to do, it's score goals: a conference-high 56 from the LA Galaxy compared to 44 from Seattle.

Robbie Keane alone was good for 20 goals in the league this season - 25 in all competitions - and finished third in the MLS Golden Boot race. The Irish captain has been a consistent scoring force for the Galaxy. The new-look Galaxy midfield was efficient this year as well, with Sebastian Lletget, Steven Gerrard, and Giovani dos Santos accounting for a combined 12 goals and 10 assists.

The one-two punch of Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins was once again a force to be reckoned with this season as the two combined for 25 goals and 16 assists in 2015.

This is their first foray into the MLS postseason for some of these star names, but with Keane, Martins, and Dempsey all on the field, someone is surely going to find the back of the net.

Form isn't kind to the reigning champions

The LA Galaxy enter this match having lost its last two matches and picking up just one win in its last seven league games. Things haven't been too hot for LA down the final stretch.

This is a fixture that produced two wins and a draw for the Galaxy during the regular season, though, and for Gerrard, the prospect of closing the 2015 season this early isn't ideal, having slipped into the wild-card race on the final day.

"I've been here three months and it feels like it's gone in a flash ... maybe I need some guidance from my teammates and people within the squad and the staff to show me the way," Gerrard told reporters. "But I'll be ready on Wednesday ... We've got no time to feel sorry for ourselves."