FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – While there hasn’t been much to write home about this season for the defending Eastern Conference champions, there is one ray of light that has shined for Columbus.
In the midst of Crew SC’s third straight defeat, Saturday's 3-1 road loss to the New England Revolution, Ola Kamara again did what he could to try and pull his team up from the depths, scoring in his fifth consecutive start.
“He was effective, he’s a good player. It’s maybe a small silver lining in an otherwise game that we’re not happy with it,” Columbus head coach Gregg Berhalter said of Kamara. “It’s time for us to get these moments right.”
Kamara was making his presence known early and doing what he could to disrupt the Revolution backline, but trailing by two goals, the club lacked a finishing touch.
But before halftime he found the seam in behind the Revs defense and Tony Tchani caught him in stride before Kamara scooted one past Brad Knighton to keep Columbus within a goal going into halftime.
It was his eighth goal of the season, all coming over his last five starts, giving him the most goals of any player in the league since May 28th, when he opened his league account with a hat trick versus Real Salt Lake.
His continued success has shined a bright light on him, making him a greater focus for defenses, as was the case for New England.
“His runs off the ball are key,” said Revolution head coach Jay Heaps of Kamara. “It’s known that he’s good at it and he did it again tonight. He had 2-3 good runs off the ball. That’s the scouting report. He’s not going to turn and beat three guys, but he’s going to run off the shoulder and split the two center backs. Unfortunately, we turned off for one play and he scored. That’s the kind of finishing he’s doing right now.”
