His arrival in the United States, granted asylum at the age of 16, was the culmination of a harrowing journey. He hid in the jungle and spent two years in a refugee camp in the Gambia before he was reunited with his mother in LA.
There, with a new life in Southern California, the past and the present linked up. The same game that helped him figuratively escape literal horrors in his youth, shined a light ahead as a career.
The goals led the way, illuminating the path. They still do. At the age of 39 or nine, it’s no matter.
Chasing Another Cup
Under the dim lights of an early round Open Cup game, his goal was pure Kamara. A broken play. A recycled cross from the left. There was the striker, lurking between two defenders. Forgotten. It’s not luck that brought him there, but instinct. Years of finding those magical gaps.
He rose highest and the goalkeeper had no chance.
For his celebration, under the outfield bleachers of the old baseball stadium, Kamara stood in front of a huge advertising board that screamed Go Where the Pros Go. He made his trademark heart-hands celebration (he was doing it long before its current upswing in popularity), signaling to the hundreds-strong band of LAFC fans who drove the long desert way from Los Angeles to Vegas.
“There’s nothing like scoring a goal. But you have to be focused all the time,” said Kamara, thinking about the pitfalls and potentials of the Open Cup. “Teams from the lower divisions, they’re hungry to beat you when you’re one of the top teams. You’ve seen it happen to MLS teams already this year.”
“Everyone wants to play in the Cup in our club,” he added, not envying Coach Cherundolo and his staff having to decide who plays and who doesn’t on matchdays – how to get the league-Cup rotation right. “It’s the mentality here, knowing every game counts and it’s five games to you lifting a trophy.
"All you can do is do your job to make sure you don’t get the club in trouble, that you don’t go off-beat” he said, back at it and preparing for a 22nd Open Cup game of his long career, against another one of those hungry second-division sides: Loudoun United of the USL Championship.
Kamara, who’ll be 40 should LAFC reach this year’s Final, is only thinking of how he can help the team get there. “All I want is to be able to give something positive to the other guys out there,” he said. “When the coach tells you to be ready, it’s your job to be ready.”
Fontela is editor-in-chief of usopencup.com. Follow him at @jonahfontela on X/Twitter.
