With his first-class finishing, heart-shaped hands and creative goal celebrations, Kei Kamara continues to entertain for Columbus Crew SC.
Scoring his fifth brace of the season in Colorado Saturday, Kamara is back on top of the MLS leaderboard with 17 goals this season. To make it even sweeter, two of Kamara’s five game-winners this year have led to both of Crew SC’s road wins.
“For me, I want to keep scoring goals,” Kamara said. “I'm going to keep scoring goals as long as the team keeps producing, but it's really all about that three points on the road. That's huge.”
The win over the Rapids was certainly a huge one for Crew SC as the Eastern Conference playoff race remains tight. But whether Kamara’s hitting the back of the net at MAPFRE Stadium or on the road, it’s paying dividends for Columbus as the Black & Gold are undefeated when his heart-shaped hands are on display. Crew SC posts an 8-0-4 record when Kamara scores.
Clearly the Black & Gold’s attacking method of finding their target forward in the box is working as Kamara has scored almost half of their 38 goals.
“The guys know how to look for him and to his credit, he knows how to be in the right spot,” Berhalter said. “He’s a fantastic goal scorer, he’s done a great job this year so far and it’s always nice to get him goals away from home.”
Kamara's second goal of the night in Commerce City tied him with Brian McBride for third all-time in single-season goals for Crew SC. Only Stern John sits ahead of Kamara. With 10 regular-season games left, John's 1999 record of 18 goals is well within reach.
Given Kamara's current form, one might be inclined to think he could also tie or break John’s 1998 season-best of 26 goals. And then, of course, there's the all-time MLS record of 27 goals in a single season, shared by Bradley Wright-Phillips, Chris Wondolowski and Roy Lassiter.
Although records aren’t what matter most to Kamara, he certainly has the right idea for how to reach them.
“I'm still looking for my first hat-trick of my career, so I'm just going to keep going,” Kamara said.
As he continues to push forward, the Sierra Leonean is earning rightful praise. He has been named to eight MLS Teams of the Week and captured Barbasol’s Man of the Match six times this season, in addition to having been named a 2015 MLS All-Star.
Kamara’s next opportunity to continue climbing up the charts comes August 19 at MAPFRE Stadium when Crew SC hosts NYCFC at 7:30 p.m. ET. The match is presented by OhioHealth and features an After Work Happy Hour, as well as a Beer & Brat Pack promo. Get your tickets here.
