John McCarthy’s Postgame Honesty Reflects the LA Galaxy’s Growing Frustrations and Desperation in 2025
Following the Galaxy's 1-0 loss to Austin FC, John McCarthy laid out what the 2025 LA Galaxy is missing
There are two sides to LA Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy: a joker who finds a way to make people and teammates laugh and a player who will keep it real about his desire to win at all costs.
The two-time MLS Cup-winning goalkeeper came into the press conference following the LA Galaxy’s 1-0 loss to Austin FC to let out his thoughts on the frustrating loss and the season he’s experienced in 2025.
The LA Galaxy sits at the bottom of the Western Conference and is one of two MLS clubs yet to record a win through nine games. The reigning MLS Cup champions have accumulated three out of the possible 27 points this season.
“It's frustrating. You want to win. I want to win. I don't like losing. But I want to win at everything I do. I know a lot of people on the team do. We just have to have that killer mentality. There's two or three moments in games that we just fuck ourselves throughout the season.” said McCarthy to reporters.
He was quick to point out that he’s had blunders this season that have cost the LA Galaxy. His inability to cleanly catch a shot directly at him in LA’s home match against Orlando cost the LA Galaxy all three points during one of its best collective performances of the season.
Mistakes like that from various players on the team have made the LA Galaxy the worst team in the conference. The 2025 Galaxy visibly lacks the clutch factor, killer instinct, and edge over teams that last season’s title-winning squad possessed.
“I think this is one [game] where, especially coming off of last week, I think we all believed that we could have won that game, and I think easily we could have won this game as well. It's a tough place to be in. But you can't fucking pout about it. You just have to move on and have that killer mentality, and then get a win at home,” said McCarthy.
The frustration aired out by LA’s keeper is understandable. The LA Galaxy has been a major talking point for national outlets because the club has been historically bad for a reigning MLS Cup winner.
In this game, McCarthy saved a penalty in the 67th minute of the match on striker Brandon Vazquez and prevented 1.15 goals according to FotMob. An unfortunate deflection from Emiro Garces in the box led to Vazquez getting a simple tap-in while McCarthy was stuck in no-man’s land. He did his part to keep the Galaxy in this game but the SoCal club couldn’t find that finishing touch on its 13 shots in this match.
On a personal level, McCarthy had to deal with being benched for the young and inexperienced Novak Micovic despite being a two-time MLS Cup winner, MLS Cup MVP, and the only LA goalkeeper with positive advanced metrics since the turn of the decade. He won back his job even though he never deserved to be demoted in the first place. Having that unnecessary microscope wasn’t ideal for both keepers, and it showed in the first six games of the MLS season.
“I've been an underdog my whole life. People doubted me, still doubt me. I don't really give a rat's ass about that stuff. And as a group, if we are an underdog group, that's the way you've got to find the little dog in you and show up and really fucking play and be a killer,” he said.
At the end of the match, tempers flared between both sides, resulting in players and coaches needing to be separated. The Galaxy has the heart and grit of a champion to compete in any game, but not being able to win a match will have a breaking point. The Galaxy is either going to keep sinking deeper than most people thought it could or find a way to float above water and be in playoff position. Desperation will start to be felt rather than hope if this slide doesn’t get fixed.
“There's going to be ups and downs through the season and obviously we're down now. So we just have to find a way to get out of it. You can't mope and pout and you can't fucking dwell on things,” said McCarthy.
“We have to win at home. We've got to find that killer mentality again."