KANSAS CITY, Kansas – Ola Kamara did everything he could to try and get at least one point on the road for shorthanded Columbus Crew SC. He came within 15 minutes and stoppage time of pulling it off.
Kamara scored twice in Sunday night's match against Sporting Kansas City, including a punishing far-post finish in the 75th minute to pull Columbus even at 2-2. But it all went for naught, as Matt Beslerscored for the first time since 2011 to give Sporting the 3-2 victory at the death.
“In my opinion, we worked too hard and were too strong not to get something out of this game,” Crew manager Gregg Berhalter said during his postgame news conference. “I told the guys I was extremely proud of their effort after going down a man and getting back into the game and sticking with it. So that's disappointing, but it's also soccer. That's how it goes, you know? We're not naive. We understand that the game's not over 'til the whistle blows.”
Kamara, who opened the scoring in the 22nd minute – in a back-and-forth, high-pressure battle between two sub-red line teams – posed challenges for the home side all night, even after defender Tyson Wahl was sent off in the 48th minute for denying Dom Dwyer a goalscoring opportunity in the penalty area.
“Ola had an excellent game,” Berhalter said. “I've been telling a lot of our local media and some of the national media, his movement is outstanding. He gets in very good spots. I think he could have had a hat-trick today.”
Besler, who came on as a second-half sub and spent much of his stint defending Kamara, was also impressed with the center forward's play.
“He's a big guy, athletic, fast,” said Besler, who was on the pitch when Kamara scored his second goal. “He's a guy that I'd never played against before, so that's always another thing to think about. He's a good player.”
Kamara proved himself especially adept at getting into space to punish Sporting for mistakes. His first goal – off assists from Harrison Afful and Ethan Finley – came after a giveaway from left back Jimmy Medranda, and his second – from a tight angle after a nice ball from Tony Tchani – followed a bad pass by midfielder Roger Espinoza.
“You have to have awareness,” Berhalter said. “You have to have awareness of what your opponent is giving you. Football is about two teams, not just one team. You have to be aware of what the opponent is doing then you have to do the movement yourself.”
And despite the result, Berhalter was pleased with his team's effort – especially after Wahl's sending-off.
“I think our intentions were good,” he said. “We showed we wanted to come here, control the game and create goal-scoring opportunities. It's a very interesting place to play, a very good environment. We didn't back down. It was important for us to have a good mentality from the start, and I think we did.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
