Which LA Galaxy goalie can keep the team's championship hopes alive?

The majority of teams in Major League Soccer would be jealous of the LA Galaxy. Especially in the Western Conference. The team currently sits in first place (14-7-5) with 49 points.

Despite having a two-point lead in the standings over LAFC, the LA Galaxy have played two more games than their in-city rival. Real Salt Lake sits at third with 44 points after 25 games recorded.

Starting goalie John McCarthy has been a huge reason for the team's success and massive improvement following last season. In 2023, the LA Galaxy had only pulled off eight wins and had as many losses and draws as they have games played this season.

A third match against LAFC looms in addition to rematches against Colorado, Vancouver, and Houston who currently sit at fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively. The error of margin still exists where the LA Galaxy could drop out of first place and even finish in the middle of the pack.

In last Thursday's contest in the Round of 32 during the 2024 Leagues Cup, the LA Galaxy suffered defeat at the hands of the Seattle Sounders, 3-1. A trio of first-half scores by Seattle proved to be too much for the Galaxy to overcome.

The LA Galaxy won 2-1 against the San Jose Earthquakes on the second of three matchdays during the group stage of the Leagues Cup. Of the four shots on goal by San Jose, Novak Micovic was able to stop three of them.

During the next game in the group stage, Guadalajara had eight shots on target with all but two of them being saved by Micovic. The LA Galaxy went on to win the 2-2 game by claiming victory, 5-4, via penalty kicks.

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Which LA Galaxy goalie can keep the team's championship hopes alive?

With two solid wins in a four day span, head coach Greg Vanney chose to switch the keeper and place McCarthy back in goal. The result was not favorable as the Galaxy were knocked out of the Leagues Cup on August 8th by Seattle.

Micovic has only started two games this regular season and none in the past three months. He has recorded a pair of saves in each contest while earning a draw in the first and a defeat in his second. The 22-year-old Serbian posted a shutout on May 18th at Charlotte, 0-0, but his team lost 2-0 at Chicago on June 1st.

McCarthy has started the other 24 games this year. With 96 saves on the season, he has only allowed 33 goals. He has posted five clean sheets in games for the LA Galaxy in 2024. The of those came back-to-back-to-back to close out the month of June.

In fact, the other two clean sheets by McCarthy during the regular season came in contests against the Sounders. McCarthy hadn't allowed three goals in a game more than once this year. The only time was in a 4-3 victory against the Earthquakes back on April 21st.

Should McCarthy struggle in the LA Galaxy's final eight regular season games, the notion could be made to bench him for the younger Micovic. While it may be an extreme possibility to predict in 2024, anything is possible in MLS.

But for now, Vanney believes in the nine-year veteran. Both would love to see McCarthy lead his team to a victory against his former team, LAFC, next month as the LA Galaxy look to secure first place in the Western Conference and go on to win the franchise's sixth MLS title.