OBETZ, Ohio – Ahead of his final interview before departing for a short MLS offseason, Kei Kamara approached the media’s gathered microphones and jokingly said, “I’m about to make an announcement. I’m retiring.”
Reporters laughed, shrugging off what seemed like a joke from the 31-year-old. But then he added, “I would have done that if we had won the Cup, by the way. Just letting you know.”
The striker had a huge grin on his face, but spoke with a straightforward tone.
Asked about it again, he said he would be going “straight to Hollywood,” if he had retired after the match.
“It’s not a joke,” he said. “I would have done that.”
But he didn’t seem to mind coming back for one more season with a club that just played for an MLS Cup.
“Oh well,” he said with a laugh. “Time to play for another one. We’ll see what happens.”
And after a season in which he scored 22 regular season goals and added another four playoff strikes, Kamara has a career year to hang his hat on.
“I came here [and] I wanted to be part of this team that goes to the Cup to win the Cup,” he said. “The fact that I was able to go that far, I’m really, really excited and really pleased about it. As a striker they ask you about being tied for the Golden Boot or the MVP and this, and I told everyone that’s not what I wanted to play for. I have no regrets [about] anything that happened this year.”
And the finalist in the 2015 MVP race says he’ll keep playing “until I win a Cup.”
“I’m at my peak right now,” he said. “I’m 31 and I want to win something. I haven’t won anything yet. So when I win something, [I’ll retire].”
But will he be playing for Crew SC at the beginning of next year?
The striker isn’t ruling anything out, but says he wants to be in Columbus.
“I came here to win something, and I haven’t done that yet,” he said. “So for now, I’m staying put.”
