Whitecaps getting full value in Kamara
Sierra Leonean striker providing steady leadership, scoring eight times this season
When you’re a management group that’s looking to build a strong Major League Soccer team on a budget, you can’t afford to miss.
So far, the Whitecaps haven’t on Kei Kamara.
The 33-year-old Sierra Leonean striker has been pretty much as hoped for Vancouver. He’s proven to be a steady leader for a squad that saw plenty of turnover during the off-season.
More importantly, he’s scored eight times this season.
The big man’s work rate is obvious. He’s often spotted ranging back into his own half to help win back balls before turning and springing other Caps players forward on the counter attack.
The numbers back up what the eyes see: Kamara has been productive for the Whitecaps and indeed is among the league leaders when it comes to measuring the quality of his shots.
The numbers also confirm what we’ve seen: he should have scored another goal or two, given the quality of the chances he’s seen.
“We can score goals,” Kamara said this week, looking to deflect attention away from his own exploits.
That would please his coach, who looks to highlight the depth of his squad whenever he can.
But make no mistake, Kamara’s the straw that stirs the drink. He’s their leading
scorer. And he’s proving to be an efficient player who gets around the park and makes an impact whenever he’s near the ball.
While old-school thinking might put Kamara, the big striker, as the point of the Caps’ attack, an easy target for crosses and the like, he’s often ended up playing the ball to the likes of Yordy Reyna, Cristian Techera and Alphonso Davies, speedy players who are tasked with unravelling opposing defensive structures.
Signed a year ago to be an attacking threat, Reyna has been just that. And his partnership with Kamara looks to be gaining strength week by week.
“Yordy sees the game,” Kamara said of what it’s like to play with the little Peruvian.
“There’s players like me, who’s just a worker but there’s players like him, who’s gifted, he’s gifted with his ability to play this game, he has a vision.
“It’s always been that big guy and the little guy,” he added.
“One guy who’s effective with his feet, and the other guy who’s the post-up guy.”
A comparison dawned on him: “Kobe and Shaq,” he said with a laugh.
“They’re a big platform to our team,” coach Carl Robinson said, before moving to note, as ever, that he’s much more focused on the overall quality of his squad.
The Whitecaps are not going to throw money at designated players, like D.C. United just did with Wayne Rooney, even if he might understand the rationale of that approach.
“The reason why he’s paid 15-million dollars is because he’s a top goal scorer at one of the bigger clubs in the world ... the bigger-name players are able to step up in key moments.
“Yordy and Kei have been really good for us and stepped up in certain moments and haven’t in other moments and that’s a reality of the players,” he said.
“I can still squeeze a little bit more out of them, but they’re giving me absolutely everything at the moment.
“I still think we can get better, we can get cleaner. We should have scored five goals on the weekend ... the week before we should have scored 10 goals.
“It’s a sum of a team ... we’re not going to be successful in this league if we’re relying on one player.”
Avoiding such a problem, of course, means getting the other ones right.