Crew's Kei Kamara gaining attention, scoring goals

Frederick Dreier | Special for USA TODAY Sports

Columbus Crew striker Kei Kamara spent the 2015 season staking his place amongst Major League Soccer’s elite players.

Kamara scored 22 goals, tying him for the most in MLS alongside Italian midfielder Sebastian Giovinco of Toronto FC. During the recent playoff quarterfinals against Montreal, Kamara’s two goals helped the Crew advance to the Eastern Conference finals against the New York Red Bulls, which begin Sunday.

A berth in the MLS Cup finals on Dec. 6 would pen yet another remarkable chapter into Kamara’s already improbable history with the game. He was born in the West African country of Sierra Leone, and did not play organized soccer until he was 17. He spent much of his childhood fleeing Sierra Leone’s bloody civil war, which erupted in 1991, when Kamara was 6.

“You heard grenades, you saw bodies in the streets,” Kamara said. “Kids were getting put into the army and were fighting.”

He lived with an aunt in the town of Kenema, while his mother worked in the United States and sent money back to the family. As the fighting spread across the country, Kamara and his family fled to the capital city of Freetown, and eventually to neighboring Gambia.

Kamara, 31, remembers multiple horrors from that period of his life: learning family members had died; seeing violence in the streets; hearing regular gunfire. When the family fled from Freetown to the airport in a small boat, Kamara said, he feared for his life.

“The boat kept filling with water, and we would have to scoop the water out,” Kamara said. “I remember thinking ‘We’re not going to make it.’”

At 16, Kamara moved from Gambia to Hawthorne, Calif., to live with his mother. He picked up soccer in high school, and his natural foot speed and coordination helped him excel immediately. He earned third-team All American status while playing for California State Dominguez Hills, and was drafted by the Crew in 2006.

Kamara struggled early on in MLS as his natural talent was easily neutralized by professional players and organized defense. He admitted he was often frustrated and unfocused. He was traded multiple times during his first four years in the league.

“Instead of trying to adapt I just wanted to use my speed,” Kamara said.

In 2009 Kamara was traded to Kansas City, where he spent three seasons under coach Peter Vermes. Vermes acknowledged Kamara’s early shortcomings, but said the striker was eager to learn.

“There was frustration, there was anger — you name it,” Vermes said. “[Kamara] saw there was a reward from the process.”

Two years ago Kamara went on loan to Norwich City in the English Premier League, and then pursued a contract with second-tier team Middlesbrough. While Kamara eventually parted ways with the team, he said he garnered important confidence and experience from European soccer, which he brought back to MLS.

The confidence showed immediately this season. Kamara’s found ways to evade defenders at crucial moments. His highlight reel features a dozen or so crossing passes that Kamara pokes past defenders.

“You know he’s going to sneak to the back post, or that he’s going to go behind the defender,” said Crew midfielder Ethan Finlay.

Kamara attributes his increased play to a variety of factors, from an increase in confidence, to the recent birth of his daughter, to the Sierra Leone charities he operates. In June, Kamara and Philadelphia Union player Michael Lahoud funded construction of a primary school in Freetown. In November, Kamara earned the league’s Humanitarian Award for his work.

The season was not without disappointment. Kamara led MLS in goals for much of the season, but was eventually tied by Giovinco, who took home the league’s Golden Boot award due to his greater number of assists. In July, MLS fans failed to vote Kamara onto the All Star team alongside the league’s much-hyped European stars. Kamara had to be named to the team by coach Pablo Mastroeni.

“It hurts — I want to be promoted equally,” Kamara said. “You see those guys on billboards, and I know I’m just as good.”

Crew coach Gregg Berhalter said Kamara’s play is on par with the league’s best. And within Ohio, Berhalter said, Kamara is already a star.

“What he’s done has not gone unnoticed,” Berhalter said. “People here know [Kamara’s] story and they’re proud of what he’s done.”