The LA Galaxy have a goalkeeper problem and no easy answers | OneFootball

The LA Galaxy were already heading into the 2025 season without several key attacking pieces that were integral to their 2024 MLS Cup-winning campaign. The last thing they could afford was a giant question mark in the back.

Yet that's exactly what manager Greg Vanney is looking at following a fourth defeat of the season Saturday night, a stunning 2-1 loss to Orlando City that was decided in part by the second goalkeeping gaffe in as many matches from John McCarthy.

This time, McCarthy got the timing of his save attempt on Luis Muriel's relatively innocent-looking free kick all wrong, and somehow spilled the shot across his own goal line for the Lions' 90th-minute match winner.

A week prior, McCarthy fumbled what should've been an easily collectable shot right into the path of Kelvin Yeboah for Minnesota's first goal of the day in a 2-2 draw.

Poor patches in form happen. But McCarthy's is particularly acute because it has come immediately after Vanney put him back in the starting XI following a run of mistakes from the Galaxy's other contender to start in goal, Novak Micovic.

It was Micovic's poorly judged pass that led to San Deigo FC's first goal in a 2-0 win at the Galaxy on opening weekend. And it was his mishandling of a corner kick that led to Cedric Teuchert's opening goal just before halftime in a 3-0 loss to St. Louis City on Matchday 3.

It was after the St. Louis defeat that Vanney went back to McCarthy, the No. 1 for most of the 2024 campaign. And after Saturday night's ordeal, Vanney ceded that the competition could again be open.

“It certainly could be if they both want to keep leaving the door open for one another," he said. "I hope not. Somebody needs to take ownership of it and be the guy. John did it all of last year and he's capable, and he needs to bounce back. But we'll see as we move forward.”

Vanney's decisionmaking so far, while understandable in some ways, has also contributed to an increasingly difficult predicament.

If Vanney stays with McCarthy, then it risks sending a message that the standards aren't the same for both goalkeepers. If he goes back to Micovic, than either goalkeeper may feel that he can't afford any mistakes at all to maintain his job, something that can lead to continued tight, nervy performances.

Outside answers?

Frankly, the ideal scenario would be for the Galaxy to try and find a solution outside their current roster. Inter Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender appears unlikely to win back the starting job from Oscar Ustari, and USMNT 'keeper Matt Turner would be well served by a move back to MLS from the Premier League, where he is not getting regular games at Crystal Palace.

But the Galaxy have virtually no resources with which to maneuver. They have no Designated Player or U-22 player initiative spots remaining, and were completely out of General Allocation Money at the time MLS released its club roster profiles.

The most likely route to a new goalkeeper would be either a player-for-player trade, or reinvesting money from a potential transfer. The latter isn't a substantial possibility until the summer European market opens. As for the former, the Galaxy have very few assets they can afford to lose that other teams might want.