‘I love playing under pressure’
Veteran striker, 33, believes he still has the skills to be an MLS playmaker
Take a quick look at Kei Kamara’s CV and he seems to be a gift passed down to the Vancouver Whitecaps from the soccer gods.
The Sierra Leonean by way of Los Angeles has been a consistent goal-producer at each of his stops in MLS. At 6-foot-3, the striker also brings a vertical and physical dimension the Caps have been lacking in their front line.
Throw in a charisma that will make him a fan favourite, a veteran’s presence and international experience with his home country and in the premiership and Kamara would seem to tick every imaginable box for coach Carl Robinson’s team.
“Everything happens for a reason,” Kamara said as he was introduced to the Vancouver media Wednesday.
“I think this is the right time for me to come over.”
But there’s also one entry on his resume that should give Whitecaps supporters pause, a number that suggests Kamara isn’t a plug-and-play answer to all of the team’s offensive needs. On top of everything else he’s been during his career, he’s now 33 and coming off two meh seasons with the New England Revolution.
Kamara, who doesn’t exactly lack for confidence, says not to worry. There’s plenty left in the tank.
If that’s the case, he must have access to a deep tank.
“I’m 33,” he said. “I can’t change that.
“But I don’t play like a 33-year-old. Mentally, I’m saying I’ve been in this league for a number of years, I’m experienced and I’m still missing a championship. That’s my goal. Lots is left. I look at the goal numbers, not the age. I still feel I can produce.”
In bringing in Kamara for the 2018 season, the Caps are heading down a road they’ve travelled before with mixed results. And that’s being as diplomatic as possible. In their eight years in the league, Vancouver has brought in a series of veteran MLS attacking players to augment their offence and virtually all have failed. There was Sebastien Le Toux in 2012, Mauro Rosales two years later, Blas Perez and Giles Barnes in 2016, Brek Shea last year.
Their one qualified success was Fredy Montero, who produced 13 goals in 2017 while forming an effective partnership with Yordy Reyna. But wouldn’t you know it. The day Kamara was speaking to the media in Vancouver, Montero was signing a multi-year deal to play in Portugal.
Montero is younger and commands a higher salary than Kamara. That pattern of trying to find offence at a discounted price is also part of the Whitecaps’ story. So will Kamara be any different? It’s a fair question, but the Whitecaps will point out a couple of things. For starters, Kamara is just a couple of years removed from a 26-goal season, including playoffs, with the Columbus Crew in 2015 when he was a finalist for MLS MVP. His ability in the air also fits in with Robinson’s attacking philosophy. Last year, the Caps’ website reports, eight of Kamara’s 12 goals in New England came off crosses and 20 of his 31 goals between 2015 and 2016 in Columbus came off crosses.
(As an aside, just let me express how excited I am to work soccer analytics into a column.)
“I played against Robbo (when the Whitecaps’ head coach was a midfielder in Toronto and New York),” Kamara said. “I know the kind of intensity he wants and I want to be part of that. I’m excited.”
OK, the fact Kamara played against Robinson tells you something. About to begin his 11th MLS season, Kamara joined the league a full year before David Beckham’s arrival in L.A. and has watched it transform from a frail, 12-team minor league to a 23-team powerhouse with more on the way.
“I’ve loved playing in this league and being a part of its history,” he said. “This is the league where I can still have my joy. I’m excited for the next part of my journey.”
Ah, the journey. Kamara, as it happens, was in Sierra Leone last month when he learned that the Caps had acquired him. It was the first time his family — wife Kristin, two-yearold daughter Kierin, eight-monthold son Kendrick — had been to the country of his birth.
Seventeen years before that, Kamara had fled a bloody civil war in the West African country and landed in L.A. as a refugee after literally winning a lottery. Given his backstory, the idea of asking this man about pressure seems hopelessly out of place, but he’s been a professional soccer player for 13 years and knows the drill.
He also knows why he was brought to Vancouver.
“I know just getting into the playoffs isn’t enough,” he said. “Bring on the pressure. I love playing under pressure.”
He’s done it in the past. Now, can he do it one more time?