Kemar Michael Lawrence (born 17 September 1992) is a Jamaican professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

club

Minnesota United Minnesota United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Saint Paul, Minnesota that plays in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. The club began play in 2017 as the league's 22nd club, and replaced the North American Soc ...

and the Jamaica national team. His nickname is Taxi. In January 2014, Lawrence was announced as a

brand ambassador A brand ambassador (sometimes also called a corporate ambassador) is a person engaged by an organization or company to represent its brand in a positive light, helping to increase brand awareness and sales. The brand ambassador is meant to embo ...

for

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manufa ...

as part of the 2014 FUTBOLNOW campaign featuring footballers such as

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the g ...

and

Sergio Agüero Sergio Leonel Agüero del Castillo (born 2 June 1988), also known as Kun Agüero, is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the best strikers of his generation and one of the greatest play ...

Early life

Lawrence is the son of former goalkeeper Orville 'Tutus' Edwards, rated among the best goalkeepers in the Caribbean during his career, who played for

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube (), commonly known simply as Santos or Santos FC and nicknamed the ''Peixe'' (; "fish"), is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a ''bairro'' in the city of Santos. It is also the team with the most goals in ...

and the Jamaica national team during the 1970s, and who died in 2005 at 53 years of age from kidney failure.

Club career

Jamaica

In 2003, Lawrence began his career in the youth ranks of Rae Town football club. In 2007, he signed for Harbour View, and was part of their

National Premier League The National Premier League, also known for sponsorship purposes as the Red Stripe Premier League, is sanctioned by the Jamaican Football Federation as the top division for men's association football in Jamaica. Contested between 12 clubs, it ...

-winning teams in the 2009–2010. In 2009 Lawrence was briefly part of the residency program of the Canadian club

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

, then of the American

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system ...

. After primarily playing for Harbour View's U20 team, he broke into the first team in 2011, making a total of 50 appearances. In 2012, he briefly moved to

Arnett Gardens F.C. The Arnett Gardens Football Club is a Jamaican football club based in Kingston, which currently plays in the Jamaica National Premier League. The team is based in the Arnett Gardens community of South Saint Andrew, Jamaica, and plays in the ...

, before returning to Harbour View in September. He was part of Harbour View's championship squad in 2012–2013 seasons. In 2014 he was selected for the inaugural MLS Caribbean Combine. In July 2014, Lawrence went to the United States for a two-week trial with MLS club D.C. United but was not offered a contract.

New York Red Bulls

CINvNY 2019-05-25 - Kemar Lawrence (47963252857) (cropped)

On 16 March 2015 it was announced that Lawrence had signed with

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

after impressing during a preseason trial. On 22 March 2015, Lawrence made his debut for New York playing the full 90 in a 2–0 victory over rival D.C. United at Red Bull Arena. After strong performances at left-back, Lawrence beat out long time defender

Roy Miller Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...

for the starting spot. On 18 October 2015, Lawrence scored his first goal for New York in a 4–1 victory over

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 2010 ...

, helping the club clinch the Eastern Conference regular season title. On 29 April 2017 Lawrence scored the game-winning goal in New York's 2–1 victory over Chicago Fire. On 23 June 2018 Lawrence scored his first goal of the season in a 3-0 victory over

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the le ...

. A week later, on 1 July, Lawrence scored the lone goal in New York's 1-0 victory over

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...

Anderlecht

On 31 January 2020, Lawrence moved to

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

for fee of 1.25 million euros. He made his debut on 7 March, as a substitute, in a 7-0 win against

Zulte Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. Zulte Waregem plays in the Belgian First Division A. Their highest finish a ...

. On 28 February 2021, he scored his first goal for Anderlecht, scoring the second goal in a 3-1 victory over

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

Toronto FC

On 7 May 2021, he returned to Major League Soccer, joining

. On 12 May, he made his debut, coming on as a substitute in a 2-0 victory over the

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

. On 7 July, Lawrence scored his first goal for Toronto against the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compe ...

, netting the second Toronto goal in an eventual 3-2 victory. Ahead of the 2022 season, he did not join the club for pre-season, as the club worked on a move for him.

Minnesota United

On March 17, 2022, he was traded to

Minnesota United FC Minnesota United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Saint Paul, Minnesota that plays in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. The club began play in 2017 as the league's 22nd club, and replaced the North American Soc ...

in exchange for the MLS rights to Sean O'Hearn and a conditional $50,000 in General Allocation Money.

International career

At the international level, Lawrence has represented the Jamaica under-17 team, the Jamaica under-20, and the national team of Jamaica, the

Reggae Boyz The Jamaica national football team, nicknamed the "Reggae Boyz", represents Jamaica in international football. The team's first match was against Haiti in 1925. The squad is under the supervising body of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), ...

. Lawrence competed in the

2011 CONCACAF U-20 Championship The 2011 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship was expanded to 12 teams beginning in 2011. The tournament determined the four CONCACAF teams that participated at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup to be held in Colombia. In addition, the top three finishers ...

in Guatemala, taking part in Jamaica's two first-round defeats, and receiving a yellow card in the second match against

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. After being part of national team training camps in 2013, Lawrence was first selected for the Reggae Boyz for the CONCACAF Fourth Round qualifying match against

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

in Panama City in September 2013. Lawrence received his first cap in a friendly against

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

at the

Montego Bay Sports Complex Montego Bay Sports Complex (sometimes referred to as Catherine Hall Sports Complex) is a multi-purpose sports stadium in the Catherine Hall area of the city of Montego Bay, Jamaica. It is also the former home field for Montego Bay United. The st ...

Montego Bay Montego Bay is the capital of the parish of St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore, all of which form the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area, h ...

in November 2013. Lawrence appeared in all four matches of the Jamaica national team's international tour in the summer of 2014, which saw them play

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from ...

-bound

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, along with

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

. In September 2014, Lawrence scored his first goal for Jamaica in a 3–1 friendly defeat against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. Later that year, in November, he scored Jamaica's first goal against

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two majo ...

, which came in the final group stage match of their 2014 Caribbean Cup-winning campaign. Lawrence played at the

2015 Copa América The 2015 Copa América was the 44th edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America, and took place in Chile between 11 June and 4 July 2015. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, ...

and, despite Jamaica losing all three matches 1–0, Lawrence was deemed the best left-back in the tournament by Rio-based football writer and broadcaster Tim Vickery. On 23 July 2017, Lawrence scored on a left-footed freekick from just outside of the box to eliminate tournament favorites Mexico and send Jamaica to a second straight Gold Cup Final.

Style of play

Lawrence plays most often on the left side of defence, specialising in the role of a wing-back. Ian Burnett, writing for

The Jamaica Observer ''Jamaica Observer'' is a daily newspaper published in Kingston, Jamaica. The publication is owned by Butch Stewart, who chartered the paper in January 1993 as a competitor to Jamaica's oldest daily paper, ''The Gleaner''. Its founding editor ...

, described Lawrence as "a feisty wide defender who is solid in defence and on offence", while

Winfried Schäfer Winfried "Winnie" Schäfer (born 10 January 1950) is a German football manager and former player who last managed of Qatari club Al-Khor. Playing career Winfried Schäfer played 403 Bundesliga matches and scored 46 goals in the (West) German to ...

, former manager of the Jamaica national team, said that Lawrence is a player with good pace and intelligence on the field, while stating his belief that he is a player with "a chance to play in Europe".

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

captain and Jamaica teammate Wes Morgan noted Lawrence's defensive abilities in dealing with

and

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

winger

Xherdan Shaqiri Xherdan Shaqiri (; born 10 October 1991) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Chicago Fire and the Switzerland national team. Shaqiri began his career at FC Basel, winning honours including ...

, and he was also praised for his technical quality and attitude by Jamaica teammate and

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

defender Adrian Mariappa.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Jamaica's goal tally first.''

Honours

New York Red Bulls *

Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Individual * MLS Best XI:

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

Best XI:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from Liga MX. MLS initially adopted a traditional all-star ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

* IFFHS CONCACAF Team of the Decade: 2011–2020

References

External links

*
Harbour View FC Senior Team List
at hvfc.net *
jamaicanfootballers.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Kemar 1992 births Living people Jamaican footballers Jamaican expatriate footballers Jamaica international footballers Sportspeople from Kingston, Jamaica Association football defenders Harbour View F.C. players New York Red Bulls players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Toronto FC players Minnesota United FC players Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate soccer players in the United States Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Major League Soccer players National Premier League players 2014 Caribbean Cup players 2015 Copa América players 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Copa América Centenario players 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players