Editor’s Note: Davis Rothman is our youngest writer at just 15. He’s a lifelong fan of the LA Galaxy and follows soccer from all around the world. It today’s opinion piece, Davis looks at one of the newest additions to the Galaxy, Ola Kamara. We hope you enjoy! – Josh Guesman, CoG
Ola Kamara, born on Oct. 15, 1989 in Oslo, Norway, is one of the most prolific strikers in Major League Soccer.
Before he came to MLS, he had played for teams in Norway, Austria and Germany and then signed with the Columbus Crew in 2016. In his first season with the Crew, he scored an impressive 16 goals, followed by 18 more in 2017.
While all of his success was going on with the Crew, specifically in 2017, the Galaxy was in a goal drought and none of their strikers had proven to be especially adept at reaching the back of the net.
In the off-season following a disastrous 2017 season, head coach Sigi Schmid reportedly was zeroing in on several striker targets, including Uruguay’s Rodrigo Aguirre, Dutchman Robin Van Persie and Brazil’s Alexandre Pato. But he ended up acquiring Kamara in a trade that sent Gyasi Zardes and $400,000 of targeted allocation money to Columbus.
In my opinion, Schmid made the right choice to focus his sights on Kamara, who already has proven to be one of the most prolific players at his position.
But, just what makes him so great? The following are some reasons:
HE’S A NATURAL NO. 9
Kamara has played as a solitary striker throughout his career. He is a target man, and the Galaxy never have had a striker who played at that position. Not even Robbie Keane, who always had a partner to play alongside him. Kamara fits perfectly into the formation the Galaxy is trying to play, which is a 4-2-3-1.
The Galaxy desperately were in need of a top goal scorer, specifically a No. 9, and have acquired one of the league’s best. Kamara will produce a number of goals because of his experience playing in the position as a reliable target man up front.
HE CAN ADAPT
He wasted little time in “getting a feel” of what MLS was like. During his time with the Crew, he settled in quickly and linked up with players in the attacking line, specifically former Columbus teammates Justin Meram and Federico Higuain.
He started his MLS career off and running and in two seasons scored 34 goals. It normally takes a player at least a season to fully adapt to MLS, but Kamara turned out to be one of those exceptions to the rule.
He arrived in Southern California a little over a month ago, but he’s already hit the ground running. It won’t take him long to fully link up in an attack featuring the likes of Romain Alessandrini, Emmanuel Boateng, Sebastian Lletget and Giovani Dos Santos and Jonathan Dos Santos.
These are just a few reasons why Kamara is such an amazing player. He is only 28, and I look forward to seeing him score many more goals for the Galaxy in the future.
I’m excited to have him a part of the squad, but what is your opinion about this acquisition? Do you think Schmid made the right move? Do you think the Galaxy should’ve gotten someone else?
Leave your thoughts and comments below, as I do read them!