OBETZ, Ohio – November has been good to Ola Kamara.
The Norwegian striker has been a big part of Columbus Crew SC’s playoff run, helping the club to the Eastern Conference Championship series against Toronto FC before earning a call to Norway’s national team for the first time since 2014.
While he’s excited to be in his first MLS conference final and was thrilled by his Norway recall, Kamara has yet to hit the back of the net this month.
The striker followed up his impressive 16-goal debut season with 18 more in 2017, and ended the regular season in his best form of the year, scoring nine times in the team’s final 12 matches heading into the playoffs.
Since the postseason began, however, Kamara hasn’t been able to find that same form. He has just one goal in the club’s four playoff matches so far, a poacher’s finish for the opening goal in Columbus’ 4-1 romp over New York City FC in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. He couldn’t find the net with Norway, either.
Now, heading into the decisive second leg at Toronto on Wednesday (7:30 pm ET; FS1 in the US | TSN1/4/5, TVAS in Canada), Kamara knows he’ll need to take any chance he’s given against a stout TFC defense if he wants to get back on the scoresheet.
“Toronto always plays like that and is always tight in games like that,” he said. “I had my one chance that was big and then still had two or three runs where if I get the ball, I’m alone. Probably against Toronto in a final, you won’t get more than one or two chances. So over two legs, if I get one or two there, it’s what I need to take.”
Columbus head coach Gregg Berhalter said Kamara improved throughout last week’s scoreless draw in the first leg against Toronto, but admitted the striker had a poor performance in the second leg at NYCFC that saw Columbus squeak into the East Championship after a 2-0 loss.
“I think he got better as the game went on [against Toronto],” Berhalter said. “I think it was a better performance than the New York City performance away from home. I think he’s gradually improving his performance.”
Kamara will need to “execute in those moments” when he gets his rare chances against Toronto, but said he’ll be playing a bit differently Wednesday, though he didn’t want to specify how.
“We have done our thing,” he said. “The things we’re planning, I can’t really tell [you]. So it’s going to maybe be a little different, how my approach is, but it’s hard to tell.”
After flying to Europe for Norway friendlies before the last match, Berhalter said he “absolutely” expects a normal week of practice to help Kamara.
“It was a lot of travel for him, the last couple of weeks,” he said. “I expect him to come out and have a good game on Wednesday for sure.”
But Kamara said he hasn’t thought about the change in schedule, and is simply hungry for goals like always.
“I always want to score goals,” he said with a smile.
