Midseason Marks: Grading LA Galaxy players at the midway point of the season
As the 2025 MLS season hits its halfway point, the LA Galaxy find themselves in the midst of a historically bad season.
With just eight points and one win through 18 games this season, the LA Galaxy is nowhere near the championship heights it found last season. This year’s squad has shown flashes of promise, moments of frustration, and everything in between.
With the first half of the camping in the books, it's time to hand out some midseason report cards. These grades reflect not just the stats, but the impact, consistency and expectations placed on each player heading into the season.
Note: Only players with over 600 minutes were graded for this article
Goalkeepers
John McCarthy (C)
The 32-year-old goalkeeper began the MLS season on the bench and got much of his early minutes of the season during the Galaxy's Concacaf Champions Cup run. After a rough start from Novak Micovic in league play, McCarthy regained the starting spot in MLS play.
It was an odd move for the Galaxy to decide to bench its MLS Cup-winning goalkeeper at the start of the following season. It wouldn’t have been much of a surprise had this happened later on in the season, but LA decided to bench McCarthy right away.
He’s started in 11 of LA’s 18 regular-season games with mixed results but mostly underwhelming performances. Blunders against Minnesota and Orlando, combined with getting seven goals put past him in New York, haven’t made his return between the sticks very memorable for the MLS veteran.
According to Fbref.com, McCarthy is tied with Atlanta United’s Brad Guzan for the worst Post-Shot xG-Goals Allowed metric at -4.0.
The leakage of goals isn’t entirely McCarthy’s fault, but he’s not helped his case with a couple of notable errors this season.
Novak Mićović(C+)
After fumbling the starting goalkeeper spot early in the season, Mićović is making a comeback in his performances as of late. He started in LA’s only win of the season in RSL, and the flashes of excellence have shown in the last few games (hence why he gets a slightly higher grade than McCarthy).
It seemed like Mićović threw away the biggest opportunity of his LA Galaxy career earlier this season, but he’s making quite the comeback this season. The Galaxy coaching staff has talked for years about his potential, but he’s not shown too much of that in his limited amount of playing time since joining in 2023.
The flashes have been present in his last four matches for the G’s. The quality saves, growth in commanding his box and contribution to possession are starting to show more compared to earlier starts this season.
Defense
John Nelson (B)
The 26-year-old left back has been a steady presence in the backline all season long for the Galaxy. He’s not been a standout player often, but he’s played at a quality level this season.
You’re not going to get many attacking contributions from Nelson, but he’ll be a workhorse on the defensive end. He’s contributing at the level you’d expect from a player with a more defensive approach to the fullback position.
Julian Aude (B-)
The young Argentine barely meets the criteria to be graded this season, with 658 minutes played. The U22 initiative player has struggled to be a consistent starter for the third straight year. He got plenty of minutes at the start of the 2024 season, but an injury saw him lose his spot for the rest of the season to Nelson.
Aude is at his best getting forward with the ball at his feet. His dribbling and technical ability on the ball make him an asset when the Galaxy has possession.
He’s not gotten many moments to shine at left back this season, as his starts tend to also include Nelson at left back while Aude plays higher up the pitch. It’ll be interesting to see his he’ll spend another season being a bench player or get a breakout moment to establish himself as a LA Galaxy regular.
Maya Yoshida (B-)
The LA Galaxy captain’s regression is happening in real-time this season. Yoshida’s passing has taken a dip; he’s won 22.2% of his tackles this season (a career-low according to Fbref.com’s data) and he’s looked slower this season.
After appearing in every game last season at 35, it’s no surprise to see Yoshida start to regress and not be the same player he was during the championship campaign.
The Galaxy signed the Japanese veteran to a two-year contract extension in the offseason that ties him down to the club until the end of the 2026 season. Through the first half of 2025, Yoshida hasn’t been at the same level he was at during last season.
Emrio Garces (C+)
The Colombian defender has shown flashes, but he’s also been the “Wild Card” of the team. He’ll track down and make recovery runs against any winger in the league, but teams have also found ways to use his aggressiveness against him.
Garces has been benched twice this season by Vanney as he looks to push for him to take that next step in his development. He’s left the backline exposed at times, which is not ideal for older defenders like Yoshida and Zanka. The talent is clearly there but he’s got to take that next step to be considered an elite player in MLS.
Zanka (F)
It’s been a pretty underwhelming season for the Danish center back in his first season with the Galaxy. The 35-year-old defender has brought another veteran presence on the backline, but nothing else on the pitch. He’s looked slow to react to goals, and he’s played a heavy part in a lot of the goals the Galaxy’s conceded when he’s on the pitch.
It’s not been an easy season for Zanka off the pitch as well. He left the LA Galaxy’s East Coast trip early due to a personal matter. Adjusting to MLS is not easy for veteran European players, but he should start to improve his performance as the season goes on.
Miki Yamane (B+)
The Japanese full back is the coach’s ideal player; he’s a hard worker and the definition of a professional.
This season has been a major adjustment period for the 31-year-old. The departure of Mark Delagdo has been a major contribution is his lack of impact this season. With Delgado, Yamane flourished in the patterns of play on the right side of the pitch and built confidence with him to also cover for him when going forward.
With so many different lineups and players this season, Yamane hasn’t been as aggressive on the offensive end. Despite those changes, he’s still continued to be a hard worker and a claim presence in possession.
Midfielders
Edwin Cerrillo (B+)
The 24-year-old midfielder has been the most consistent figure in the LA Galaxy’s lineups when he isn’t suspended for yellow card accumulation.
Cerrillo’s been a steady presence when the Galaxy has the ball. He’s not going to rip apart teams with his passing or move the ball forward with every pass, but rather, he sets the tempo of the possession.
He’s been a reliable player for Vanney to trust this season. The only major knock on him this season is that he leads the MLS with eight yellow cards, which has led to him being suspended for two games.
Lucas Sanabria (C+)
The Uruguayan was the Galaxy's first signing of the offseason, and the results through the first half of the season have been all over the place.
A fractured collarbone early in the season sidelined him for a month, which cost him time to adjust to a new style of play under Vanney. He’s gone through a lot of growing pains adjusting to playing with the ball more and reading spaces.
His last few matches have shown glimpses of promise that the. Galaxy saw in him. The main goal for Sanabria this season is to continue to get more comfortable playing next to Cerrillo and build confidence with the ball at his feet.
Isaiah Parente (C)
The 25-year-old midfielder has received more playing time this season due to injuries, and he’s held his own in the middle of the park.
Parente is acclimated to playing with lots of touches and being a connector in the midfield. His game is predicated on keeping the ball moving across the midfield rather than being a deep-lying playmaker for the rest of the team.
He’s not been a liability this season, but at the same time, he won’t win the Galaxy games this season. Vanney isn’t going to build his midfield around him, but Parente has proven he’s a good MLS depth piece.
Marco Reus (A-)
When the German international is on the pitch, the Galaxy attack starts flowing. Injuries have kept the former Dortmund midfielder from really getting into a groove and leading the Galaxy attack to more goals. He leads the team with eight goal contributions (three goals, five assists) in 12 appearances this season.
Reus is the only player on the team who reads the game at an elite level and finds ways to get his teammates in the best positions to impact the game. The last two months have seen Reus be the player LA imagined it was getting last summer.
Diego Fagundez (B)
The MLS veteran has been a reliable presence in the lineup for Vanney’s side this season. Whether that’s out wide or in the middle of the pitch, he’s been able to fit many different roles during the first half of the campaign.
Fagundez has three goals in 17 games played this season, which is respectable, but is it fair to expect more? There aren’t many moments where he can play a killer pass, and his shooting numbers are low (three of his 15 shots have been on target).
Aside from his free kick against the Houston Dynamo, Fagundez isn’t providing game-changing moments for the Galaxy.
Forwards
Christian Ramirez (C-)
The first half of Ramirez’s season started off well with goals and him being an impact player. However, his impact on the game and fit with the Galaxy started to diminish as the season went on.
His four goals this season lead the team, but he’s not found the back of the net in his last eight games. With the Nascimento now playing as the starting striker, Ramirez’s best shot at being an impact player for the rest of the season is as a super sub.
Gabriel Pec (B-)
The Brazilian winger has tried to be the one-man show for the LA Galaxy this season. Don’t believe me, take a look at his shot map this season - he leads the team with 56 shots this season, 37 more than the second highest on the team.
There have been numerous games this season where Pec is the offense for the LA Galaxy. It’s forced him to play deep and away from goal compared to last season, where he finished off sequences in the box.
The efficiency needs some work, but that honesty doesn’t carry much weight because he’s been the only dangerous player on the frontline all season. Following a two-goal performance in St. Louis, Pec is starting to look like the lethal winger he was last season.
Joseph Paintsil (C)
It’s been a tough season for Ghanian, who began the preseason and start of the campaign on the sidelines due to injury.
His return to the pitch has been somewhat disappointing, as the killer instinct in the final third is not at the same level it was last season. Paintsil has one goal and one assist in 806 minutes of action in the MLS regular season.
There is still plenty of time for him to turn his form around, but the Galaxy really needed him to be firing in this first part of the season. Paintsil was unable to add that extra lethal dimension in the attack compared to the previous campaign.
thanks for the ratings. pretty much agree except i think yoshida has struggled and is about a C- did you miss Naciemento? (i would give him an A-)