When Columbus Crew SC hosts Sporting Kansas City at MAPFRE Stadium on Saturday night, Kei Kamara will face his former club for the first time since returning to the Black & Gold last year.
The forward admits it will be an emotional moment.
“It’s gonna be great,” Kamara says. “Kansas City has a big part of my heart, and up to this time, up to this day, to really be able to say, ‘I’m going to play against them for the first time,’ it’s going to be very touching.”
After stints with Crew SC, the San Jose Earthquakes and the Houston Dynamo, Kamara spent almost four years in Kansas City, scoring 38 goals and notching 20 assists in 113 appearances. Since returning to Columbus, the striker has put away 18 goals in 25 matches, tying Stern John for second-most goals scored in a single Crew SC season.
Now, Major League Soccer’s leading goal scorer is looking to add to his tally against Sporting KC, but stresses the Black & Gold will also have to improve defensively to shut down a dangerous Kansas City attack.
“We’ve been getting a lot of goals and we’ve been battling really, really hard,” Kamara says. “For us, it’s really just limiting more goals for the opponent and then that way we’ll be able to get three points.”
Kamara’s other former team, the Earthquakes, showed how to accomplish that in impressive fashion, defeating SKC 5-0 on Wednesday night. The result came to Kamara’s surprise and he expects Kansas City will have a bit of a chip on its shoulder when it visits Columbus.
“It was really shocking,” Kamara says of the scoreline, “but that gives them a little bit of a bite to come in here and try to get some points or get some goals.”
Sporting will have to achieve that without their top scorer Benny Feilhaber (eight goals, 13 assists), who will miss the match after seeing a red card against San Jose.
Kamara says Kansas City is a strong team even without Feilhaber but that his absence will be felt.
“Benny has been the playmaker for them all season and was leading the League in assists, so they’ll miss him,” he says. “They don’t have someone with that killer instinct to make those passes. It’s an advantage for us and we’ll take it.”
Crew SC Sporting Director & Head Coach Gregg Berhalter says he expects SKC Head Coach Peter Vermes to put a fresh squad on the field.
“I think that they compete,” Berhalter says. “They put a lot of energy and effort into their game and they have a lot of tough players, so it’s always a tough game against them.”
“I know Peter well, and he’s going to have these guys ready to play,” he adds. “It’ll be a tough game because he’s built a good strong squad.”
Despite the quick turnaround following Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with New York City, Berhalter says his lineup decisions aren’t based on the short resting period.
“We’re always looking at performance as an indicator of who’s going to play or not,” he says. “We’re not going to hold guys back because of the short rest. We think the guys will be fit enough to play again, but everyone’s accountable for their performance.”
One of those players seeing action for the second time this week might be defender Harrison Afful who made his Crew SC debut against NYCFC. The Ghanaian international expects a feisty Sporting KC side on Saturday.
“When a team is losing or lost within the week and is coming in for another game, they come in with all they have,” Afful says. “They are very hungry to win something. But if we are focused, we are determined, and we play as a team, hopefully, I’m sure victory will be on us.”
Kickoff for Crew SC vs. SKC is set for 7:30 p.m. Get your tickets here. If you can’t make it to MAPFRE Stadium, catch the action on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel, CD 102.5 or La Mega 103.1.
