The playoffs get underway Wednesday and there’s something interesting about all four knockout round matches.

The knockout round of the MLS Playoffs have produced some of the most dramatic moments in the league’s history. In the seven seasons since it was established, three eventual MLS Cup Champions have come out of the knockout round and upset a team that earned a first-round bye en route to a championship.

It’s difficult to envision one of these teams beating two or three of Atlanta United, New York Red Bulls, Sporting Kansas City and Seattle Sounders, but you shouldn’t be surprised if someone does it. The team with the best record won MLS Cup in four of the league’s first seven seasons, but the Supporters’ Shield winner has only won MLS Cup in three of the last 15 years. Real Salt Lake had a losing record heading into their 2009 MLS Cup-winning playoff run. This league is weird.

With that in mind, every game matters. So here’s something interesting about each one of the four knockout round games.

NYCFC vs. Union: Trusty and McKenzie ready for round 2?

When: Wednesday, 7 p.m. ET, FS1 and UniMás

The Philadelphia Union fell into sixth place over the weekend, setting up an away knockout round matchup with New York City FC. They did so by... losing away to NYCFC. In the immediate rematch, Philly will need its young defensive partnership to learn from Sunday’s mistakes.

It’s been an incredible season for 20-year-old Auston Trusty, the only player to appear in every single minute of action for the Union this season, and 19-year-old Mark McKenzie, who is going to go start for the USMNT Under-20 squad if the Union’s playoff run ends early. Making the playoffs at all with a central defensive partnership this young is a huge accomplishment.

But if they’re going to make the next round of the playoffs, they’re going to need to do a lot better than they did over the weekend. The highlights do not flatter Trusty and McKenzie.

The Union’s midfield trio of Haris Medunjanin, Alejandro Bedoya and Bořek Dočkal has been great all season at wearing down teams over the first hour of a game, then creating chances late. They won’t get the chance if the young defenders behind them make critical errors early in the game.

FC Dallas vs. Timbers: Can someone finish all these chances?

When: Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. ET, Unimás and ESPN+

Both Dallas and Portland usually play with two very defensive-minded midfielders. Both run most of their play through the No. 10s that will be attacking the areas that those DMs sit in. And both of those No. 10s haven’t put up the goal and assist numbers that they should. If Diego Valeri or Maxi Urruti doesn’t have an exceptional game, we could be looking at a 0-0 draw.

Valeri has been excellent for the Timbers this season, even if he hasn’t put up the eye-popping goal number he recorded in last year’s MVP campaign. Through a combination of a system change and worse shooting luck, Valeri has scored half as many goals with a similar number of shots. He had 21 goals from 93 shots in 2017, then 10 goals from 86 shots in 2018.

Valeri’s been used as more of a playmaker than a finisher this season, which makes sense as he declines physically, while retaining his brains and technique. He’s posted 100 key passes — passes that lead directly to shots — good for second in the league. It’s a big uptick from last season, when he had 69, but Valeri only has one more assist this season than he did in 2017.

He might lead the league in assists if he had a good striker in front of him, but Portland has struggled to find an answer in that position. Fanendo Adi was shipped off after a bad first half of the year. Samuel Armenteros has been adequate, though not quite starting quality for a playoff team. Former USMNT Under-20 star Jeremy Ebobisse, still just 21 years old, has only recently started to look like he can be effective at MLS level. The trio of Adi, Armenteros and Ebobisse combined for just 13 goals.

On the other side of the field is Maxi Urruti, a different kind of No. 10. He’s been converted from striker, mostly because he is not very good at scoring goals. Despite that, Urruti still shoots like a striker. He’s one of the league’s most notorious volume shooters, and he’s even more notoriously inefficient. He took 20 more shots than Josef Martinez this season, scoring 22 fewer goals.

And he does this every year.

Dallas lives and dies by Urruti shots. Sometimes they go in, most of the time they don’t. But starting striker Dominique Badji is averaging one shot per game, while... hold on. Sorry. I feel like I need to emphasize this in every way I can so people who are skimming this post don’t miss it.

STARTING STRIKER DOMINIQUE BADJI IS AVERAGING ONE SHOT PER GAME FOR FC DALLAS.

Bruh.

Anyway, Dallas isn’t getting a ton of shots from anyone but Urruti. They’ve lost three games in a row. They need him to score or unintentionally assist with a shot to beat Portland.

DC United vs. Crew SC: Wil Trapp needs to step up

When: Thursday, 8 p.m. ET, FS1 and UniMás

Wil Trapp is perhaps the best defensive midfielder in MLS at helping his team build out of the back and retain possession during build-up play. But as an athlete and a ball-winner, he’s adequate. He doesn’t hurt his team in defensive transition, but he’s not one of the league’s top DMs in this respect either. He’ll need to have one of his best games of the season in the true defensive part of his game on Thursday.

D.C. United has been completely transformed by Wayne Rooney’s arrival. Not just in what he does directly, but the confidence he’s given players who were already on the team. Luciano Acosta had one goal and seven assists in the 13 games he played before Rooney’s arrival, and he’s recorded nine goals and 10 assists in the 20 games since Rooney showed up. Acosta has assisted Rooney four times, and Acosta has assisted Rooney four times.

Here’s an example of the kind of things they’ve been doing to opposing defenses that get caught out of position. D.C. wins the ball in a dangerous area, Montreal is caught with no one in a defensive midfield position, and this happens.

But Rooney and Acosta’s combination play can be a nightmare for teams that are set in their shape too. On this goal, they play around Orlando defensive midfielder Uri Rosell, No. 20, like he isn’t there.

Rarely does a D.C. United open play goal not feature an exchange of passes between the two. Usually in the center of the pitch, just outside the penalty area, in the space Trapp will be asked to occupy. Good luck Wil!

LAFC-RSL: Time for a track meet

When: Thursday, 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2 and UniMás

Los Angeles FC manager Bob Bradley will be looking at Real Salt Lake’s very slow midfield and think his team can score a lot of goals if they play fast through the middle. RSL manager Mike Petke will be looking at LAFC’s complete lack of a defensive midfielder and think his team can score a lot of goals if they play fast through the middle.

That, friends, is how you get a track meet.

Here are some very fun recent examples of the kind of absolute nonsense an LAFC or RSL game can devolve into. The highlights from this 4-2 LAFC win over the Houston Dynamo are wonderful.

As are the highlights from this 4-1 RSL victory over New England Revolution.

This game is unlikely to feature the highest quality soccer of the four playoff matches. But it is bound to be the most entertaining. Anything short of five goals between the two teams would be a disappointment.