October 29, 2019 By Sahr Morris Jr.
Former World Cup star and U.S. Major League Soccer (MLS) defender, Alexi Lalas, has favoured Columbus Crew forward Kei Kamara for the MLS ‘Most Valuable Player of the Season’ award.
The Sierra Leonean striker is in stiff competition with Italy and Toronto FC striker Sebastian Giovinco for the 2015 MVP award, but Lalas believes Kamara is the right man for the gong.
“I have my four different criteria,” Lalas told the Toronto Sun. “It’s all about the goal-scorers. There’s nothing more valuable in soccer than scoring goals. Secondly it is not about how many goals you score, but the amount of games you score in. It does me no good to have a guy score a bunch of goals and then doesn’t score in a bunch of games.”
According to Lalas, it is on record that Kamara has scored in one more game (16 total) than Giovinco this season. “Three: I don’t count penalties,” Lalas continued. “It’s an art and certainly a skill, but it’s separate. From a statistical standpoint Kamara beats Giovinco, who has converted three penalties to Crew striker’s zero.”
For the former Birmingham, Michigan and United States defender, to deserve an MVP you should have at least had the ability to carry your team to the playoffs.
“It’s a mathematical equation. It’s Kei Kamara,” Lalas explained. “Even if you don’t take off the penalties, he has scored in more games and has more goals in the run of play.”
Already the Italian, Giovinco has beaten Kamara in the race for the golden boot after he finished the season with 22 goals. Despite tied with Kamara at 22 goals, Giovinco’s 16 assists served as the tiebreaker.