COLUMBUS, Ohio – After yet another brace in a 2-1 win over the New England Revolution Wednesday, Columbus Crew SC striker Kei Kamara is pulling away as the league's top scorer with 12 goals, already setting an MLS career high with more than half the season to play.
And while the Sierra Leone native is staying hungry, he sheepishly admitted after the match that he's having the best season of his career.
"I can't lie about that; it's good," he said with a laugh. "It's going to sound like an echo, but for me, for that to happen where I started my career with Columbus, I'm more than happy about that. It's my best season so far."
Head coach Gregg Berhalter praised Kamara's performance and work rate throughout the season after the match, and said it could have been an even better night for the striker.
"He could have had more, if you look at the game," Berhalter said. "He's aggressive around the box and he wants to score, that's the best thing. He truly wants to put the ball in the back of the net, and he has that urgency and that desire, and that goes a long way."
And in the form of his life, Kamara isn't happy with just two either.
"It's not three," he said with a smile. "Everybody says I'm not used to scoring one; I just get two and that's it. I enjoy getting balls in the back of the net, but I have really good teammates that have been finding me and making that easy."
Chief among those teammates is Ethan Finlay, who also leads MLS with 9 assists, four of which have been to Kamara. After the match, Kamara made sure to give the winger his due.
"The league has got to recognize that he's one of the best passers around," Kamara said of Finlay. "He can find people. He's found that strength that he can make the good pass and it's not about scoring goals all the time."
But Finlay, who led the team in goals last season and has only notched two in 2015, says he and others will need to pick up some of Kamara's slack.
"Obviously we're going to have to find other scoring sources as the season goes on because teams are really going to focus on him," Finlay said. "He makes such good runs, specifically to that back post, that you're going to see that near post open. A couple times it was tonight for the cutback."
But Kamara said he plans to continue his blistering pace through the rest of the season.
"Why not?" he said. "If the team can play the way we're playing, definitely. I just keep working, keep doing my stuff. I enjoy scoring goals; I'm definitely going to keep going."
