COLUMBUS, Ohio — Kei Kamara scored two goals and the Columbus Crew beat Seattle 3-2 on Saturday night for their first home victory against the Sounders.
Columbus (4-3-2) is 1-3-1 at home against Seattle (5-3-1). The visiting team had won the previous three meetings in the series.
“It’s always nice to be a part of history,” Kamara said.
Kamara headed home Waylon Francis’ cross in the 10th minute to open the scoring for Columbus. Seattle’s Clint Dempsey tied it 1 in the 24th minute. He was given space near the penalty arc and took advantage with a left-footed goal through traffic.
“I think we had some good things in the first half, weren’t able to finish,” Columbus’ Ethan Finlay said. “We came out really feeling it in the second half.”
Federico Higuain gave Columbus a 2-1 lead 4 minutes after halftime. A cross fell to him at the edge of the 18-yard box and he took five dribbles in the area to find a clearing. In the 58th minute, Kamara’s casual redirection of a Hector Jimenez pass made it 3-1.
Dempsey had a controversial goal in the 75th minute. He appeared to be in an offside position on Obafemi Martins’ shot. The rebound fell to Dempsey’s feet and the flag stayed down.
“It’s a tough team to play against, even having a 3-1 lead in a game like that and against a team like that,” Finlay said. “We have to be better about closing it out.”
Dempsey is tied with Kamara for the MLS goals lead with seven, but it wasn’t enough to extend Seattle’s three-game winning streak.
“It’s always a statement,” Kamara said about the home win. “I tell the guys in the locker room that every time we play at home, we gotta make sure we punish any team we play against.”
