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November 1, 2018 |
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@HarJournalist
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VANCOUVER, B.C - As Whitecaps FC head into what is expected to be a busy offseason several key players are likely to depart once a new coach is named. A divided roster of cliques is never a good formula for a successful team. Vancouver needs more leadership, character, positive energy, and players who put the team first before themselves.
They need Kei Kamara.
The 2018 Domenic Mobilio Golden Boot winner lead Vancouver with 14 goals. His highest goal-scoring ratio since 2015 when he scored 22 goals with Columbus. Kamara is exactly what Whitecaps FC need to unite a crumbling locker room before next season.
Does Kamara want to return to a team in disarray with no direction?
"Yeah my contract is up," Kamara told reporters earlier this week. "Right now, I'm focusing on my offseason. I would love to be back in Vancouver to play for this team. To win something, would mean a lot to me. I can't force that. At the moment the team doesn't have a coach. A different coach could come in and have a different plan. I'm just going to go on my offseason. If my phone rings, and there's interest in coming back here, then definitely Vancouver is top of my list for places that I want to play at next season."
Red Nation Online has learned that Vancouver Whitecaps FC did not hold any contract negotiations with Kamara during this past season. In his first season with Vancouver, Kamara earned $1 million in compensation. The fact that the organization hasn't recognized his contributions and re-signed him for the 2019 season speaks volumes.
In 314 MLS matches, Kamara has scored 112 goals. He is 6th all-time in MLS goal-scoring. He knows how to create space, and score. In his 23,596 minutes of play, he has found the net through the air, from distance, on breakaways, and from the penalty spot.
Kamara feasts on goals, and Chipotle. That's what he does.
It's ridiculously difficult to find a big time goal-scorer in Major League Soccer with the success rate that Kamara has. For a team that has a goal-starved history that Whitecaps FC have, you'd think Kamara returning for next season would be a key priority.
"I can feel the energy that people want you around," Kamara explained. "It's not one of those places where you know it's time for you to move on, they don't want to see you. Hopefully people in the front office feel the same way. Right now we can't judge that. We can't judge any of that because it's at the point of the season where they have to look through the roster, finances, and see what players are coming back and who is not coming back."
Vancouver's finances are about to hit a windfall from the transfer of Alphonso Davies. There will be money to spend to re-tool and shape the roster. You can bring in as many footballers as you want, but you can't buy chemistry. During a long season, you want people who can bring others together, and lift up a locker room when times are tough.
The 34 year-old Kamara gets it. He has been in his fair share of MLS locker rooms. He knows what works and what doesn't. He can help bridge a strong culture between the team, fans, and media. All he wants is to win at all costs. Kamara played for the crest on the kit first.
"I would give all 100 plus goals just to get an MLS Cup," Kamara echoed. "It's the league that I played at for so long, and that's the one thing I didn't get. There's guys that only played a season and got the MLS Cup. Yes money is good, and everybody is playing for something, but if I put my focus on that, and that's what I want to play for."
You want players who have a winning attitude, and don't put personal accolades above the team. If there is a problem within the team, it should be addressed in the locker room. Kamara did not agree with airing of dirty laundry during the final availability of the season.
"That's two Canadians," Kamara said, of Russell Teibert, and Doneil Henry. "How come they both rhyme when they both talked about something? You're going to have that in locker rooms. Some people are going to give it their all for the crest. When I play, I love playing for teams that the people support the team, not the players, coaches, but they love that team because the team represents their city. When I feel that, I feel like I'm part of that city, team. You're going to have that in every team, place that you play. That maybe you do feel that one or two players didn't give it your all."
"Whoever is going to say that somebody didn't give it their all. That's still the energy you can inject into those people that you think are not giving it. That's my personality in the locker room. When I feel like people are down, sleepy and this... I'm just really loud, because I'm trying to wake everybody else up. I'm not going to come to the end of the season, and say, the season ended the way that it did because A - B - C didn't give it their all, they didn't really care about the crest. That's not how I do it. I'm loud as hell in that locker room, until I'm really annoying, but I'm only doing it for one reason. I want all of us to succeed."
If Whitecaps FC want to continue on a trend of not paying top dollar for a proven number 9 or number 10, it's only going to frustrate an already infuriated fan base that's grown tired of the same status quo year in, and year out. Vancouver has an opportunity to go big, and show everyone that they're committed to a new direction.
A pay raise for Kamara likely isn't in the cards, but there could be another role for him with Whitecaps FC. A team of cliques and division always needs a minder.
"I'm not a babysitter," Kamara said. "I didn't come here to be a babysitter, even though I ended up being one. Good thing the kid graduates. He's going to college" (FC Bayern Munich)."
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