Kei Kamara
Kei Ansu Kamara is a Sierra Leonean professional footballer who plays as a striker for the Sierra Leone national team. He is one of 13 players to have scored 100 goals in MLS history, achieving the landmark in 300 appearances. He is currently second on MLS's all-time scoring list, scoring for 11 different MLS clubs.
Early life and education
Kamara was born and raised in Kenema, Sierra Leone's third-largest city. He began playing football as a child, initially as a form of escapism from the Sierra Leone Civil War, in which he witnessed executions in his home city of Kenema, infiltrated early by rebels. At one point, he hid in the jungle and even spent two years in a refugee camp in the Gambia. At age 16, Kamara and his family migrated to the United States through a refugee program, initially moving to Maryland, before settling with relatives in Hawthorne, California, near Los Angeles. He became an American citizen in 2006. He began his career playing for Kallon F.C. from 2001 to 2003.Kamara played college soccer at California State University, Dominguez Hills, where, in his second year, he was named third-team All-American. Kamara also spent two seasons with Orange County Blue Star in the USL Premier Development League.
Club career
2006–2009: Early MLS career
Kamara was chosen by Columbus Crew in the first round, ninth overall, at the 2006 MLS SuperDraft. He spent two seasons there, making 36 appearances and scoring five goals.Prior to the 2008 season, he was traded to San Jose Earthquakes in exchange for Brian Carroll. However, he spent only the 2008 season there, making 12 appearances and scoring two goals.
On 24 July 2008, Kamara was traded to Houston Dynamo for a first-round pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft and allocation money. On 30 September 2008, Kamara scored two goals for MLS champion Houston Dynamo against Mexican club UNAM Pumas in a CONCACAF Champions League match.
Sporting Kansas City
On 15 September 2009, Kamara was traded to Sporting Kansas City for Abe Thompson and allocation money. Kamara had several productive seasons with Kansas City which saw him become one of the most imposing wingers in the league.Loan to Norwich City
Kamara was a transfer target of Norwich City of the English Premier League during the winter 2013 transfer window, following an unsuccessful trial at Stoke City earlier in the off-season. It was announced on 30 January 2013 that Kamara was signed on loan by Norwich for the remainder of the 2012–13 Premier League season. Norwich had the option for a pre-negotiated permanent transfer or to return Kamara to Sporting at the end of the season, in which case Kamara would miss the first 10 matches of the MLS season. As part of the deal, Kamara's contract with Major League Soccer was extended. Norwich City announced on 5 February that Kamara was granted a visa, making him legally eligible to play for the club. He made his league debut for Norwich as an 86th-minute substitute in a 0–0 draw with Fulham four days later. On the next matchday, 23 February, he came on as a 58th-minute substitute, and 19 minutes later, scored his first goal for Norwich, equalising 1–1 against Everton with a powerful header at Carrow Road, in an eventual 2–1 victory.Kamara did not score any more in a Norwich shirt and Norwich declined the option of taking him on a permanent transfer. On 4 May 2013, Norwich City confirmed the loan deal had ended and he would be returning to Sporting Kansas City immediately.
Middlesbrough
On 2 September 2013, it was confirmed that Kamara had signed for Middlesbrough of the Championship on a two-year contract for a fee of £900,000. He made his debut for the club twelve days later, coming on as a 63rd-minute substitute in a 1–3 loss to Ipswich Town. On 17 September, Kamara made his first start and scored his first goal for Boro in a 2–2 draw at Nottingham Forest. He followed up his first goal against Forest by scoring on his home debut, a 3–3 draw against AFC Bournemouth four days later. He then scored on 5 October in a 4–1 win at home to Yeovil Town, and twenty days later in a 4–0 home win at over Doncaster Rovers. On 28 August 2014, it was announced that Middlesbrough had parted company with Kamara as his contract had been cancelled by mutual consent.After parting ways with Middlesbrough, Kamara had a successful trial with recently promoted Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers. However, his work permit renewal application was declined after Sierra Leone fell to 75th place in the FIFA World Rankings and Wolverhampton shifted its focus to signing Yannick Sagbo instead.
Return to Columbus
In late August 2014, it was revealed that Kamara could return to MLS but would have to go through the league's allocation ranking system since Kansas City received a transfer fee for the player. At the time, the No. 1 spot in the allocation ranking was held by Columbus Crew SC, the club which initially drafted Kamara in 2006. On 7 October 2014, it was confirmed that Kamara had signed for Columbus and would officially be added to the roster on 1 January 2015. Because he was released by Middlesbrough after the 2014 MLS roster freeze, he would not be able to appear for the Crew until the 2015 Major League Soccer season.The following season, Kamara helped the Crew to the play-offs by finishing second in the Eastern Conference, and finished the 2015 MLS season as the joint top-scorer of the league, alongside Toronto FC's Sebastian Giovinco, with 22 goals in 33 games, although the latter claimed the MLS Golden Boot due to having provided more assists throughout the season. In November 2015, he was named one of the three finalists for both the 2015 MLS Landon Donovan MVP Award and the 2015 Advocare MLS WORKS Humanitarian of the Year Award; he was awarded the MLS Humanitarian of the Year Award on 5 November, although he missed out on the MVP Award, which went to Giovinco. On 8 November, he scored two goals in a 3–1 win over Montreal Impact in the Eastern Conference semi-finals of the MLS Playoffs, including the decisive goal in extra-time, which allowed Columbus Crew to advance to the Eastern Conference finals. On 22 November, he scored in the first leg of the 2015 MLS Playoff Eastern Conference Finals, a 2–0 win over the New York Red Bulls, which allowed Columbus to claim the 2015 Eastern Conference Championship 2–1 on aggregate and advance to the MLS Cup Final. Due to an injury sustained in training, however, it was initially uncertain whether Kamara would be able to feature in the 2015 MLS Cup Final against the Portland Timbers; nevertheless, he played all 90 minutes of the match, scoring the only goal for Columbus in a 2–1 defeat. With 4 goals, Kamara was the top-goalscorer in the 2015 MLS Playoffs, bringing his total seasonal tally to 26 goals although he missed out on the MLS Cup MVP Award, which went to Portland's Diego Valeri.
After being signed to a Designated Player contract, Columbus got off to a rough start in the 2016 season. Kamara scored five goals in his first nine games including a brace against Montreal on 7 May 2016 where Columbus had the lead. An argument arose between Federico Higuaín and Kamara over a penalty kick, with Kei potentially getting his first hat trick in his career; however, Higuaín wanted to take it himself. The game ended in a 4–4 draw. After the game, Kamara publicly called Higuaín out in an interview after the game. As a result, he was suspended by manager Gregg Berhalter for the next game.
New England Revolution
On 12 May 2016, just five days after the penalty kick incident with Higuaín, Kamara was traded to New England Revolution in a blockbuster deal which saw Columbus receive a first-round pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft, a second-round pick in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft, an international roster slot for the 2016 season, general allocation money, targeted allocation money, and a percentage of any fee received should New England transfer Kamara to a club outside of MLS.Kamara made his debut for Revolution on 14 May 2016, in a 2–0 victory over the Chicago Fire. He scored his first goal for New England in a 2–1 win over the New York Cosmos in the 2016 U.S. Open Cup round of 16 on 29 June. He scored his first goal for the club in MLS play on 2 July, part of a brace in a 3–2 loss to the Montreal Impact. His first goal in the match was the 80th of his career, making him only the 16th player in MLS history to record 80 goals. Kamara concluded the 2016 season with 12 goals.
On 2 September 2017, Kamara scored his first MLS hat-trick against Orlando City in a 4–0 win. His first goal in the match was the 100th of his career, making him only the 12th player in MLS history to record 100 goals. He was named MLS Player of the Week for week 26. Kamara led the Revolution in scoring in the 2017 season, winning the club's golden boot with 12 goals and 5 assists.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
On 10 December 2017, Kamara was traded by New England to Vancouver Whitecaps FC in exchange for a first-round selection in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft and a conditional second-round selection in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft. He scored on his debut on 4 March against Montreal Impact in a 2–1 win. Kamara left Vancouver at the end of their 2018 season when his contract expired.Colorado Rapids
On 11 December 2018, Kamara was selected by FC Cincinnati in the 2018 MLS Expansion Draft and immediately traded to Colorado Rapids in exchange for an international roster slot for the 2019 season.On 3 August 2019, Kamara scored the second hat-trick of his professional career in a 6–3 win over Montreal Impact, which saw him reach 11 league goals for the season, the most for a Rapids player since Omar Cummings in 2010.