Photo by Trevor Ruszkowski/USA TODAY Sports

By JOE TANSEY

CHESTER, PA — When Kei Kamara found out he became the 16th player in league history to score 20 goals in a season, he lit up with excitement.

The number 16 carries a significant meaning for the Crew forward, who bagged a brace in the Columbus Crew’s 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Union on Saturday night.

“I actually didn’t know that number. Sixteen is actually my lucky number,” MLS top scorer Kamara said. “I came to America at the age of 16, so I’ve always counted that as my lucky number. To be the 16th person, I’m happy.” 

Kamara benefited off of two solid crosses from right back Harrison Afful to net his pair of first-half strikes at PPL Park.

In the 21st minute, Kamara headed home the opening goal of the contest after Afful’s cross glanced off the head of defender Richie Marquez.

Five minutes later, Kamara made another back-post run and connected with an Afful pass to put the Crew ahead by two goals.

“He’s a really, really good addition to the team. He’s shown it. He’s a Ghanian international. He’s played at the World Cup and African Cup of Nations. He’s a really experienced player,” Kamara said of the right back. “It’s all about us clicking as fast as possible as a team. Today he showed some really, really good play.” 

The Crew focused on exploiting the spaces on the flanks, which Afful used to set up both of Kamara’s tallies.

“The gameplan was to switch field,” Crew manager Gregg Berhalter said. “I think as we switch field, space is going to open up. I think the left side was open as well. At times, we didn’t exploit it enough. The idea was to switch fields and we did a good job of that in the first half especially.” 

Berhalter also praised the effort of Kamara, who leads the Golden Boot race by three over Toronto FC starlet Sebastian Giovinco. Despite having nine starters absent, including Kamara, in his team’s loss to FC Dallas last Sunday, Berhalter said the approach to Saturday’s game was much different than six days ago.

“(Kei)’s a fantastic player and we talk a lot about him and rightfully so,” Berhalter said. “I think last week the team wasn’t prepared in the right way and this week we were.

“We understood how to break down a compact opponent and we really focused on that. Kei is a great finisher; he’s someone we want to get the ball to in the box. He proved again how valuable he is to the group.”

Kamara is seven goals away from tying Roy Lassiter, Chris Wondolowski, and Bradley Wright-Phillips’s single-season scoring record, and at least one of his teammates believes Kamara can break it.

“Tony Tchani says I can score eight goals in the last five games, but if I can win the next five games I’m more than happy,” Kamara said. “I want to score goals. I want to help the team out and if my goals are going to help the team out, then I’ll just keep scoring.”