The Fall of Champions: The Key Moments that led to the LA Galaxy’s historically bad 2025 campaign
From Confetti to Catastrophe, how the 2025 season became the worst season in club history
Just ten months ago, the LA Galaxy were on top of American soccer. A sixth MLS Cup trophy gleamed in Los Angeles, confetti all around the pitch at Dignity Health Sports Park, and players celebrating this historic accomplishment in Legends Plaza the day after beating the New York Red Bulls in the final.
Greg Vanney had delivered a title built on resilience, veteran leadership, and a rediscovered identity that made the Galaxy look like the league’s gold standard once again after a decade of mediocrity. But the glory didn’t last long. By the end of 2025, the Galaxy had crashed to the bottom of the Western Conference standings for most of the season and recorded the fewest points in club history (30).
From the first whistle against San Diego FC, the defending champions looked out of sync and burdened by the pressure of repeating success and the weight of major offseason changes. Key veterans left, new signings struggled to adapt and the chemistry that once defined the locker room needed to be rebuilt.
By midseason, the problems were impossible to ignore. The goalkeeper carousel created instability in defense, the attack lacked a clinical edge after Dejan Joveljić’s departure and questions began swirling about Vanney’s future just months after he’d delivered a championship.
Every week brought a new lowlight: a late collapse, a defensive meltdown, and losing a game despite Sporting Kansas City not attempting a single shot. The title-winning swagger was gone and instead replaced by frustration and fatigue.
Even in their best moments, like the spirited fight against Toluca in the Campeones Cup, the Galaxy looked like a team haunted by what they used to be.
The fall of the 2025 LA Galaxy didn’t happen overnight. It was a gradual unraveling, shaped by tough decisions, mistimed moves, and the loss of leadership that once held everything together. To understand how the champions fell, you have to start with locker room leadership that needed to rebuild after MLS Cup.
Losing Locker Room Leaders
The departure of Gastón Brugman in the offseason set the tone for how the LA Galaxy would reshape their roster ahead of 2025.
Fresh off an MLS Cup title and his MVP performance in that final, Brugman was more than just a talented midfielder. He was a steady, respected voice in the locker room. He pushed standards, mentored younger players and kept the atmosphere light when the pressure mounted on the team.
The Uruguayan had filled in for Riqui Puig during the MLS Cup final, and his composure in possession and progressive passing made him the perfect complement in Greg Vanney’s midfield. The pair arrived together in the summer of 2022 and quickly built chemistry, helping LA return to the playoffs that same year. Injuries and off-field turmoil derailed that progress in 2023, cutting Brugman’s season short (and led to Edwin Cerrillo taking over his place in the starting lineup), but even while recovering from a torn meniscus, he remained a daily presence around the squad.
That same leadership thread ran through veteran defender Martín Cáceres. Though injuries sidelined him in each of his final two seasons with the club, his influence extended far beyond the field. Young players like Emiro Garcés credit Cáceres for guiding them through the demands of professional soccer and taking him under his wing after leaving his native Colombia. Together, Brugman and Cáceres helped bridge the gap between the club’s veterans and its emerging South American contingent. It’s a cultural link the 2025 team sorely missed.
The Galaxy’s leadership hierarchy was shaken, and it could have completely unraveled had captain Maya Yoshida not re-signed.
Yoshida, who played in every match and led the Galaxy to MLS Cup victory in 2024, accepted a significant pay cut from $839,334 in 2024 to $526,281 in 2025, according to the MLSPA salary guide. Yoshida was looking for stability for his family and having a two-year contract with the LA Galaxy is what he decided on despite the salary reduction.
Still, the absence of Brugman, Cáceres, and other veterans like Mark Delgado and Dejan Joveljic left a void that no one fully replaced. The MLS salary cap forced LA’s roster reset, the result of an all-in push for 2024. It made it impossible to retain that veteran core and the effects were felt immediately.
“I think it’s something that, over the course of the season, we were at times just kind of working through,” Vanney admitted before the final game of the season when asked about leadership in the team during the 2025 season.
With Riqui Puig sidelined by an ACL injury, LA lost its most vocal and fiery competitor. “Riqui is a guy who was always hyper-competitive and standard-oriented,” Vanney said. “He would stir it up on the field, and it almost required guys to respond. I felt like we lacked a little bit of that at times.”
Players like $5 million signing Lucas Sanabria could have benefited from the mentorship of Brugman or Cáceres while adjusting to life outside Uruguay. Instead, the young midfielder endured a difficult start, which included a fractured collarbone in just his second MLS appearance.
The remaining veterans from 2024, Yoshida, Marco Reus, and Diego Fagúndez took on much of the leadership responsibility. Yoshida and Reus battled injuries and inconsistent form but remained influential voices in the dressing room. Fagúndez meanwhile, became one of the most dependable presences on and off the field, something the Galaxy front office will need to consider when evaluating his future.
Vanney has also challenged Designated Players Joseph Paintsil and Gabriel Pec to embrace greater leadership roles moving forward. “Guys were figuring out their voices, players who maybe didn’t have big voices last year,” Vanney said. “It’s something we really need to consider as we move into the offseason.”
Keeper Dilemma
The decision to bench John McCarthy in favor of Novak Mićović at the start of the MLS season set the tone for what would be a shaky start to the season. The Galaxy found success with McCarthy at the start of the Galaxy’s spine in 2025 and removing him at its early consequences.
In LA’s opening match of the season against San Diego, Micovic’s lackluster execution in playing out of the back led to expansion side getting the opening day win. The Serbian had another error against St. Louis City. That shaky start to the season led to Vanney returning to McCarthy, who had been in goal for LA’s Concacaf Champions Cup matches.
McCarthy wasn’t convincing in his return to MLS play and was in goal for LA’s 7-0 loss to the Red Bulls on the road.
The Galaxy found themselves in no-man’s land with goalkeepers; both Micovic and McCarthy hadn’t been convincing and the conversation about the two goalkeepers intensified. Vanney would dismiss any ideas of a goalkeeper controversy when brought up by reporters, but it is hard to ignore when there is instability at a position that doesn’t see constant changes in personnel.
It is hard to build a solid defense when there is back-and-forth between the middle of the backline. McCarthy and Mićović have two different personalities and have different ways of playing the position.
The Galaxy made the choice to start Micovic for the remainder of the season. McCarthy was traded to the Red Bulls, marking the end of his time with the LA Galaxy. J.T. Marcinkowski made his Galaxy debut this season, marking his return to the pitch following a horrific injury. It was clear the Galaxy was moving forward with Mićović as the starter.
“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,” - John McCarthy following LA’s 1-0 loss to Austin FC in April
“We have to be talking about him not as a young goalkeeper anymore, but that he is the goalkeeper,” said Vanney about Mićović this season. He also emphasized wanting to see progression and not regression in the Serbian’s performances.
Mićović displayed flashes of quality throughout the season, but moments of hesitation and lack of assertiveness persisted. Statistically, he finished with a Post-Shot Expected Goals minus Goals Allowed (PSxG-GA) rating of -1.3, ranking 27th among MLS goalkeepers with over 1,000 minutes played. The Galaxy as a whole finished with a PSxG-GA of -5.0, 26th in the league.
At the end of the season, there are still questions about whether Mićović can be the man between the sticks for the foreseeable future. This is a question that 2026 will undoubtedly answer.
Delaying Vanney’s Extension Announcement
One of the most confusing moments of the 2025 season revolved around Greg Vanney’s contract extension. Coming off the euphoria of winning the LA Galaxy’s sixth MLS Cup, it would have been the perfect time to secure and announce a long-term deal ahead of his final season under the existing contract.
Instead, both sides opted to play the long game, delaying the announcement until mid-May. While talks about the extension had begun at the MLS Cup afterparty, the official confirmation came weeks into the season. Following a grueling road trip that included a 7-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls and a blown two-goal lead in a loss to the Philadelphia Union. Vanney’s extension was announced just days before the high-profile rivalry match against LAFC.
The extension itself, reportedly making Vanney the highest-paid coach in MLS, was never the issue. The problem was the delay, which gradually became a distraction as the team struggled through its worst start in club history.
“Although the Galaxy and Vanney’s agent, Ron Waxman, had a handshake agreement to get an extension since last year, [Will] Kuntz said the negotiations slowed once the season started. The delay in getting the deal done had nothing to do with the team’s start, he said,” wrote Kevin Baxter of The LA Times.
Initially, no one doubted that Vanney would eventually get the extension. His resume and experience in MLS made him one of the league’s most valuable coaches. But as losses mounted, four games without a win, then nine, capped by the 7-0 blowout in New York, speculation about his future intensified.
Questions swirled: Was Vanney at risk of being fired? Had he lost his touch? Was the club still evaluating him? The lack of communication and urgency around the extension allowed outside noise to grow, adding pressure to both Vanney and the players.
Vanney faced repeated questions about his job security, some of which visibly frustrated him. Players also had to address the uncertainty, publicly stating their support and faith in their coach. Less than a year after lifting the MLS Cup, Vanney found himself navigating one of the most unusual and tense periods of his coaching career.
Striker Search
The loss of Dejan Joveljic was consequential on and off the pitch for the LA Galaxy. The Serbian scored 21 goals across the MLS regular season and MLS Cup playoffs to help LA develop a lethal frontline that guided the team to success. Joveljic scored the game-winning goal in MLS Cup.
Aside from his goalscoring, Joveljic brought ego to the squad. He wanted to score goals and his attitude in training helped LA develop its edge and killer instinct.
“We miss his mentality in training,” said Vanney about Joveljic earlier this season.
“He was feisty, and he’d talk a little bit of shit. Sometimes people took offense, and sometimes it got things going, but you love that.”
The LA Galaxy’s two “Joveljic replacements” each had their struggles at the LA Galaxy. Christian Ramirez was acquired from the Columbus Crew in the offseason and Matheus Nascimento was acquired on loan from Brazilian side Botafogo.
Ramirez had been a key figure for the Crew in the last two seasons and found ways to adapt to the talent around him to get on the field. Ramirez was the MLS veteran, the player that doesn’t need to adapt to life in MLS.
The 33-year-old talked a lot about how special it was to represent the club he used to watch when he was younger. He told reporters early in the season that he halted a transfer to Colombia to instead play for the Galaxy. But this wouldn’t be a happy story for Ramirez.
He started 10 of the LA Galaxy’s first 13 games of the season and scored four goals in that stretch of the season. However, he wasn’t contributing to wins during that time as the Galaxy continued its winless run.
With Ramirez benched, Nascimento started to show what he could provide to the Galaxy. His start to life as a Galaxy player was hindered due to a groin injury, but he slowly worked his way back into fitness.
In his second start of the season against Real Salt Lake, Nascimento played a role in LA’s first win of the season by assisting Sanabria’s opening goal. With the Brazilian leading the front line, he added extra playmaking and more athleticism to the striker position.
While he added a spark to the position, the numbers show Nascimento was unable to replicate being a goalscoring machine like Joveljic. The Brazilian finished the season with six goals and three assists in 26 appearances across all competitions during the 2025 season. With his loan ending, the LA Galaxy must make a decision to active his purchase option and build around him or look for other options to invest that U22 spot.
This question, which loomed over the start of 2025, will carry into 2026.
Showing Potential
It wasn’t all bad during the 2025 season. For a portion of the season, the Galaxy looked like it could compete with every team in the league.
The LA Galaxy’s showdown against Toluca for Campeones Cup on Oct. 1 showed the fighting spirit and ability for the Galaxy to go toe-to-toe with the best teams. The match featured a playoff-like atmosphere and intensity on the pitch that is reserved for the biggest games of the season. Both teams were physical with each other and showed their abilities in the match.
LA scored, Toluca fought back. Controversial calls and emotions took over the game. Unfortunately, the LA Galaxy found itself conceding two late goals to lose the match. Players fell to the floor, heads fell, and players watched Toluca lift the cup in LA’s home stadium.
The defeat left visible scars. Players walked past the mixed zone with their heads down, drained from the emotional and physical toll of the contest. Yet, those 90 minutes also showcased what the Galaxy could have been: a team capable of challenging elite opponents when operating at full intensity.
The underlying issue remained clear. While the talent existed to compete at the highest level, the team repeatedly failed to close out games, a shortcoming that defined their 2025 campaign.
In professional sports, results ultimately outweigh effort, and the Galaxy’s inability to convert their potential into consistent outcomes was their undoing all season long.
Other Stories
Thank you for reading and supporting The Galactic Tribune’s coverage of the LA Galaxy in 2025. It means a lot to see people reading this newsletter and we hope to continue to be your hub for LA Galaxy news and stories. Our coverage will continue for the offseason and into the next season.
Below are some of our best stories of the season from Alex Ruiz and David Martinez. It may not be fun to look back at this season, but these archived stories will help explain what happened in 2025 should people choose to look back at this campaign.
