After Columbus Crew SC’s 2-1 loss to Portland in late September, head coach Gregg Berhalter said he felt his star player Kei Kamara – atop the MLS scoring charts at the time – wasn’t being protected.
“I’m not one to complain about referees’ decisions or an opponent, how they play,” he said. “But to me, you’ve got the leading goalscorer who’s a physical player, but he’s just getting beat up out there. In my opinion, I think the referee needs to protect him a little bit more. …
“He’s a fantastic player having a fantastic season, and we don’t want to ruin that. The spirit of the game is to play soccer. I think it was certainly overly physical and he could have been protected a little bit better.”
After Crew SC’s 2-0 win in Toronto Saturday, a match that saw the club seal an Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs berth, Berhalter said it was the same old story.
Kamara suffered several fouls himself, but picked up a yellow card on a challenge near midfield in the 63rd minute. The card meant he would be suspended for the club’s final regular season match against D.C. United in Columbus next weekend.
Tied with Sebastian Giovinco with 22 goals on the season, Kamara’s card also put him out of contention for the Audi Golden Boot since the Italian has more assists, the first tiebreaker. Berhalter didn’t like the call, and believes Kamara deserves the award regardless of a 23rd goal for either player.
“I’m disappointed,” Berhalter said. “I’ve said this before: [Kamara] got absolutely manhandled all game. There were some hard fouls against him, and [his] foul, in my eyes, wasn’t deserving of a yellow card. For him not to get a chance to defend the Golden Boot is disappointing, because I still think he deserves it.
“You score 22 goals from the run of play, that should have some consideration over 22 goals with penalties sprinkled in.”
Does Berhalter believe Kamara is being protected by MLS officials?
“If you look at how aggressive teams are playing against him, he certainly needs protection,” Berhalter said. “Just because he’s big and strong doesn’t mean you can go in reckless against him. He takes some hard fouls and always gets up and always keeps going.”
Kamara, for his part, took to Twitter to share his thoughts.
