MONTREAL – What happens when two best friends face each other in the Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs?
Banter.
When Dominic Oduro and Kei Kamara both got drafted in the 2006 MLS SuperDraft, they struck a friendship that lasts to this day. Kamara got married to wife Kristin last year; Oduro was his best man.
But now, their respective teams, the Montreal Impact and the Columbus Crew, have been paired up in the Eastern Conference semifinals. And the smack talk has begun.
“We kind of trash talked a little bit via text,” Oduro said, a playful smile lighting up his face. “We’re going to be doing some talking again today. He’s ready. I told him that I was going to kick his butt. And I spelled it out for him: B-U-T-T. Told him to spell-check it. He’s probably going to do that and get back to me.”
Then again, Oduro just can’t tease his friend all the time. There’s just so much good to be said about him.
Kamara has been having a dream season for the Columbus Crew, helping them to a bye to the semis on the back of 22 goals. Tied with Toronto FC’s Sebastian Giovinco in the scoring charts, Kamara only lost the Budweiser Golden Boot on the assists tiebreaker, conceding eight assists to his rival.
“He’s strong,” Oduro said. “He’s very athletic. He’s good in the air. He’s different from [Jozy] Altidore and the other guys that we played. He’s very mobile, too, for his size. He’s one guy that we should really want to watch out for a little bit – [Federico] Higuaín, too. He brings a lot to the game, and he's mobile everywhere.”
Montreal attempted to stop Giovinco by denying Benoît Cheyrou and Michael Bradley the time and the space to feed him from central midfield. It worked. Now, they have to neutralize Giovinco’s Golden Boot – and likely Landon Donovan MVP award – rival, Kamara.
Oduro thinks that the same strategy could work – with some caveats.
“Unlike Toronto, the Crew likes to keep the ball,” Oduro said. “They are a team that really possesses the ball, and they have Higuaín, who bounces everywhere to get the ball. Outside backs are always up front, trying to whip balls in. As much as you want to make that comparison, you still have to sit back a little bit and analyze that.
“They go to teams’ homes and they dominate. It’s not something that you can easily take out of the equation. It could be our plan, but I’m pretty sure that we have our geniuses up there – Mauro [Biello] and the coaching staff – trying to figure something out. We’ll leave it to them.”
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