LA Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney rubbished suggestions that there is a goalkeeper crisis at the club, backing number one John McCarthy to bounce back. 

McCarthy has come under scrutiny after making a huge blunder in the Galaxy's 2-1 defeat to Orlando City SC, letting Luis Muriel's late free-kick slip through his fingers. 

Vanney has changed his goalkeeper once already this season, with Novak Micovic making a number of high-profile errors in the early part of their campaign. 

McCarthy kept a clean sheet in the Galaxy's goalless draw with Tigres in their CONCACAF Champions Cup quarter-final in midweek, with Vanney confident about the man in goal. 

"For me, there's no question what John McCarthy can do," Vanney said. "All the nonsense about this crisis crap is nonsense.

"We have two good goalkeepers, and they're both very capable. There's one job to do and I know what each of them is capable of doing. John has done it for an entire season.

"I have the utmost confidence in John, and he came back out tonight and showed why he's that veteran goalkeeper. He can bounce back.

"So he made a mistake and on my team people are allowed to make mistakes. You just got to respond to them the right way and you got to bounce back."

Real Salt Lake, meanwhile, are looking to respond to their 2-0 defeat to Minnesota United, a game that left head coach Pablo Mastroeni ruing missed opportunities. 

In their last clash at Allianz Field, RSL registered an expected goals (xG) total of 1.61 from their 15 shots, but only four were on target in the contest. 

And Mastroeni is looking for his team to rediscover their clinical edge in front of goal, suggesting that if they are unable to do so, they may not reach the playoffs this season. 

"Positionally, especially in the first half, it was a tale of two halves. We had a hard time holding the ball up front," Mastroeni said. "Any time you can't do that, we cannot be threatening.

"After the break, we had some really good chances. Those are game-defining opportunities. Those were as good as we were going to get. We have to be ready for the moment.

"That is where experience comes into play. You can't teach it, you have to live it. It's about being in the right place and the right time and having the calmness to finish.

"That takes time. We had numbers in the box, got into good areas, but the finishing part has been eluding us. When you're not defending your box well and not scoring goals, we are going to find it very difficult to win games."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Real Salt Lake – Forster Ajago

Having scored just twice for Nashville SC in 15 appearances across all competitions last season, Ajago has already equalled that total during his eight outings for RSL.

But his team are one of the lowest scorers in the Western Conference, with only St. Louis City and the Houston Dynamo (four) netting fewer this season. So RSL will be turning to their top scorer to provide that spark in the attacking third.

LA Galaxy – Christian Ramirez

Ramirez scored LA Galaxy's only goal on Saturday and now has three of the team's five goals this regular season.

He has also netted five times against RSL in his MLS career (regular season & playoffs), equalling his most against any opponent (also five against Orlando City).

MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW

LA Galaxy are unbeaten in five straight regular-season matches against Real Salt Lake (W2 D3), with both wins in that time coming in Sandy, Utah. This is only the second time the Galaxy have won two straight away matches against RSL (also 2012-13).

But they have struggled this season. Their two points through six matches are the fewest by a reigning champion in MLS history (previous low – four by five teams).

This is also the Galaxy's worst-ever start to a season, having never recorded fewer than three points in their first six matches before (three in 1997 and 2023).

RSL, meanwhile, have lost back-to-back home matches after losing only two of their previous 16 league matches at America First Field. They have not lost three straight home league games since a six-match losing streak to end their inaugural 2005 campaign.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Real Salt Lake – 38.3%

Draw – 26.5%

LA Galaxy – 35.2%