Columbus Crew coach Gregg Berhalter said MLS officials should do more to protect his star striker Kei Kamara after his side's 2-0 win at Toronto FC.
Kamara is tied with Toronto's Sebastian Giovinco with the league lead at 22 goals, and Berhalter said that should earn him a little more leeway to jostle with defenders.
"I'm not one to complain about referees' decisions or an opponent, how they play," the coach said. "But to me, you've got the leading goal scorer who's a physical player, but he's just getting beat up out there. In my opinion, I think the referee needs to protect him a little bit more. ...
"He's a fantastic player having a fantastic season, and we don't want to ruin that. The spirit of the game is to play soccer. I think it was certainly overly physical and he could have been protected a little bit better."
Berhalter also said defenders try to make up the size difference with Kamara by being overly physical when playing against him.
"If you look at how aggressive teams are playing against him, he certainly needs protection," Berhalter said. "Just because he's big and strong doesn't mean you can go in reckless against him. He takes some hard fouls and always gets up and always keeps going."
Kamara also revealed his thoughts about referee Chris Penso after Saturday's game, writing on Twitter:
That referee is the Best in the world. Yes in the whole world. Thank you. ��������������.
- KEI KAMARA (@keikamara) October 17, 2015
Kamara wasn't among the goal scorers on Saturday and he picked up a yellow card that will rule him out of the Crew's regular-season finale against D.C. United next week.
Giovinco is therefore in line to win the league's Golden Boot, as he owns the tiebreaker with 15 assists.
Berhalter, however, says Kamara should be recognized for scoring all his goals in the run of play, while Giovinco has scored three from the penalty spot.
"I'm disappointed," Berhalter said. "I've said this before: [Kamara] got absolutely manhandled all game. There were some hard fouls against him, and [his] foul, in my eyes, wasn't deserving of a yellow card.
"For him not to get a chance to defend the Golden Boot is disappointing, because I still think he deserves it.
"You score 22 goals from the run of play, that should have some consideration over 22 goals with penalties sprinkled in."