When Major League Soccer announced its three finalists for the 2015 most valuable player award at the beginning of November, pretty much nobody was surprised at who made the cut. Sporting Kansas City’s Benny Feilhaber, Toronto FC’s Sebastian Giovinco and Columbus Crew SC’s Kei Kamara had all distinguished themselves as the league’s best players in their own unique ways.
Feilhaber enjoyed a career renaissance, wowed fans with his creativity and playmaking ability, and had everyone clamoring for Jurgen Klinsmann to call him up to the US men’s national team. Giovinco put on a display of artistic wizardry the likes of which has likely never been seen in this league. And Kamara made a triumphant return not only to MLS but to the team who drafted him, blossoming into a scintillatingly prolific target forward this season.
Why Kei Kamara for MLS MVP Isn’t So Far-Fetched Anymore
The overwhelming narrative as the regular season came to a close was that the award was Giovinco’s to lose. After all, the Italian maestro finished with a ridiculous total of 22 goals and 16 assists. His combined goal-assist mark of 38 shattered the previous high in league history which was set by Chris Wondolowski for the San Jose Earthquakes back in 2012 (27 goals, seven assists). Clearly, the other two MVP aspirants did not have as impressive a body of work as that of the “Atomic Ant.”
But might that narrative need to undergo a bit of a revision given what has transpired over the course of this month during the 2015 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs? Shouldn’t a candidate for MVP be evaluated not only for his stellar play in the lead-up to the postseason, but also in the high stakes environment that is the postseason itself? Isn’t the player who puts his team in the most favorable position to win a championship by definition most valuable?
If that is indeed the case, then perhaps it’s not much of a stretch to reconsider Kamara’s candidacy as being on par if not superior to that of Giovinco’s. It’s hard to believe that Crew SC would be where it is right now without his contributions in the club’s three playoff games up to this point. On multiple occasions has he come up big with crucial goals this postseason and it’s a significant reason why the club is on the cusp of its first MLS Cup appearance in seven years.
Facing a 2-1 aggregate deficit after the first leg of Columbus’ Eastern Conference semifinal matchup with the Montreal Impact, Kamara notched a brace at home including what would be the series clinching goal in the 111th minute of extra time. His perfectly placed far post header off an open play cross from the left flank by Cedrick Mabwati epitomized another aspect of his play which not only completes him as a striker but also enhances his MVP candidacy. It has to do with his exceptional aerial ability.
Kamara had 127 aerial duels during the regular season which was tops in MLS. He joined C.J. Sapong of Philadelphia as the only two forwards ranked in the top ten in that category, even though Sapong had 40 less and ranked eighth league-wide. That quality in the air was on full display right off the bat in the first leg of the conference finals against the New York Red Bulls.
Now it must be said that the play in question does belie Crew SC’s style of play which tends to emphasize building from the back and dominating possession. However, with a team like the Red Bulls whose vaunted high press played a part in the club winning the 2015 Supporters’ Shield, sometimes bypassing the midfield and playing direct is the best way to counter it.
And so immediately after kickoff, defensive midfielder Wil Trapp played one of his patented long balls which Kamara headed down towards Ethan Finlay. Finlay drew two RBNY defenders towards him as he came into the box. They were able to jar the ball loose, but it fell right to Justin Meram who fired it past goalkeeper Luis Robles nine seconds into the game for the fastest goal in MLS Cup Playoffs history. Without Kamara playing a part in this sequence, it’s unlikely a goal would have resulted from it.
Getting a second goal was a late game objective that would’ve put the club in much better shape heading into the return leg at Red Bull Arena. And who better than Kamara to be the one to find it. Both him and Mabwati, who came in as an 80th minute sub for Finlay, were able to take advantage of tired legs among the Red Bull back four. In the end, it was Mabwati’s dynamic change-of-pace and Kamara’s knack for finding space in between the center backs which led to an all-important insurance goal from the 31-year-old Sierra Leone international in the 85th minute.
In three playoff games, Kamara has three of Crew SC’s six goals and played a major role in a fourth. Compare that to Giovinco who had none in Toronto FC’s 3-0 defeat to Montreal in the knockout round. It wasn’t just the lack of scoring output that was disappointing on his part. It was the fact that you would’ve thought he was part of Penn and Teller’s magic troupe considering he essentially disappeared for significant portions of the game.
Even within the context of the regular season, there were elements of Kamara’s goal-scoring acumen that, in many respects, puts him ahead of Giovinco. Kamara was somewhat more efficient in the number of shots taken that found the net. He averaged 6.14 shots per goal compared to Giovinco’s 8.23 and was slightly ahead in goals per 90 minutes (0.72 to 0.71). But what doesn’t get talked about enough when it comes to Kamara’s current total of 25 goals is the fact that none of them came via penalty kick. Three of Giovinco’s were taken from the spot.
It cannot be argued that Giovinco turned in a phenomenal regular season that rewrote the MLS record book and he should certainly be commended. Toronto FC would not have qualified for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history without him. However, if we’re going to comprehensively evaluate who’s most deserving of MVP consideration, we have to take into account how much a given player steps up when the chips are truly down.
Columbus Crew SC is two wins away from a championship and Kei Kamara is a big reason why. Toronto FC has long since been dispatched from the postseason and, despite his exploits in leading his team there, Sebastian Giovinco is similarly a big reason why. Has that changed the outlook enough to tilt things in the former’s favor when the league MVP is announced next Wednesday? If the Black and Gold can close out the Red Bulls and make it to MLS Cup 2015, it just might.
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