Sports

Hernández: How Kei Kamara escaped Sierra Leone to star for LAFC

Published

2 years ago

July 14, 2024

Hernández: How Kei Kamara escaped Sierra Leone to star for LAFC

The explosion outside of his school. The vultures feasting on corpses in the streets. The water gushing into the boat that was ferrying him to safety.

The images of war remain with Kei Kamara to this day.

The LAFC striker pictures them whenever he shares the story of his childhood in Sierra Leone. He often sees them in his dreams.

“I get these nightmares,” Kamara said. “I’m always running. I’m always running from chaos.”

The memories continue to haunt the 39-year-old Kamara, but they also have convinced him of how fortunate he is.

So rather than be disenchanted with how he’s switched teams more than a dozen times in his career, he celebrates how someone has always wanted him.

So instead of complaining about how he played irregularly last year with the Chicago Fire, he points out how his diminished role allowed him to score a milestone goal this year while playing for his hometown team.

“I’m this kid who ran away from a civil war,” Kamara. “I should not be here.”

Here, in his 19th year in professional soccer.

Here, with a resume that includes a stop in the English Premier League.

Here, in second place all-time in career goals in Major League Soccer, one spot ahead of Landon Donovan.

A boy selling soft drinks that he carries overhead walks past a clinic taking care of Ebola patients in Kenema, part of war-torn Sierra Leone, in 2014.

(Youssouf Bah / Associated Press)

Kamara was living in the Sierra Leone town of Kenema when his mother won an immigration lottery that permitted her to move to the United States. He was left with an aunt, who was one of five wives in a polygamous family that included about three dozen children. Kamara considered them to be brothers and sisters, adding that he didn’t know what a cousin was at the time. They played soccer on the family compound’s courtyard or on the 6-foot-wide path between adjacent buildings on the property.

But their lives were about to be disrupted, as a civil war that broke out on the Liberian border moved into the cities.

Kamara was in school when he heard the explosion that changed everything. A grenade had detonated outside.

“I remember running out of school, running into this little alleyway,” he said. “Kids were falling down and we were jumping over each other. I’m getting close to home and I realize I left my brothers and sisters. So I had to turn back around and run through the crowd. They were sitting in class.

“I don’t think there was a calm time after that.”

Kenema became dangerous. Rebel forces swept the streets for potential child soldiers, and Kamara said two of his cousins were captured.

“We never got to see them again,” he said.

His family moved to Sierra Leone’s capital of Freetown, but the conflict followed them.

“When there were gunshots, we all ran in the house,” he said. “When it was done, you’d hear neighbors and people crying because they lost family members. You could see their bodies.”

A temporary cease-fire presented Kamara and some of his family members with a chance to escape. Before they could board a plane to Gambia, however, they had to cross the Sierra Leone River by boat.

“It’s built with wood, so there’s always water coming in,” Kamara said. “I remember there were people with buckets bailing the water out. I remember thinking, ‘We’re not going to make it out, we’re going to drown.’”

Kamara spent close to two years in Gambia, after which he and his relatives were granted asylum in the United States. He first set foot in this country on Oct. 26, 2000.

“I will never forget that day,” he said.

A soccer player heads the ball away from a defender

Kamara initially lived with an uncle in Maryland. The arrangement lasted only a couple of months, and Kamara moved across the country to be with his mother in Hawthorne.

“It wasn’t all peaches and cream,” Raphael Saye said.

Kamara’s and Saye’s mothers were close friends, and Saye’s mother often looked after Kamara when his mother worked nights as a waitress at the Normandie Casino. Kamara came to refer to Saye as his brother.

“He had to deal with being different at school,” Saye said. “Being African, he had an accent. His mannerisms were different.”

Kamara enrolled at Leuzinger High in Lawndale, where he crossed paths with future NBA players Dorell Wright and Russell Westbrook. Kamara found his place on the soccer field. Classmate Cristian Olvera insisted he try out for his youth club, the Manhattan Beach Hurricanes.

“After 10 minutes, I just remember saying, ‘Oh my goodness, we’ve struck gold.’ He just did things that were jaw-dropping,” said Hurricanes coach Bruce Myhre.

Because Kamara’s mother worked nights, Myhre joked, “I ended up being his chauffeur.”

Twice a week, Myhre picked up Kamara in his silver Nissan Pathfinder to drive him to practice in Manhattan Beach. He also drove him to games.

“That’s when I first started to find out his story,” Myhre said.

Myhre became a father figure to Kamara and made sure college coaches knew about him. One of them was Joe Flanagan, who at the time headed the program at Division II Cal State Dominguez Hills.

When Kamara was a high school senior, Flanagan ran into him at Dominguez Hills. Kamara had applied to the university and was on his way to Flanagan’s office to inform him that he wanted to play there.

“Kei was all over it,” Flanagan said.

A soccer player bursts ahead of two defenders

Kamara had a plan. The Galaxy’s new stadium was on the Dominguez Hills campus. Expansion team Chivas USA was about to join them as a tenant in what was then called the Home Depot Center.

“If I want to play pro, this is probably the best place to go,” Kamara recalled thinking at the time.

Kamara found work at the stadium. He erected the goals. He placed the corner flags. He set up the advertising boards that lined the field.

“He was the first one to get a job and we didn’t understand why,” said Saye, who also enrolled at Dominguez Hills.

Kamara made it a point to become acquainted with Galaxy players. He was soon on a first-name basis with then-Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid.

“I had my soccer shoes in the back of my car all the time,” Kamara said.

The memories elicited a chuckle from Flanagan.

“He was a go-getter,” Flanagan said.

In time, Galaxy players occasionally invited him to kick the ball around with them. After scoring 16 goals as a freshman and 15 as a sophomore, Kamara declared for the 2006 MLS draft.

He was selected with the ninth pick by the Columbus Crew. Schmid was the team’s coach.

A soccer player slides on his knees after scoring a goal as a teammate watches K

Kamara has played for 11 MLS teams. He’s played in Finland. He’s also played in England, including half a season with Norwich City in the Premier League.

One of his most cherished memories was of playing at Old Trafford. Kamara had visited the stadium the previous year as a spectator.

“A few months later, I’m downstairs with Norwich City playing against Manchester United,” Kamara said. “I’m looking all the way up, like, ‘I was just sitting there in December and now I’m down here.’”

He has a similar sense of wonder when he reflects on how he ended up with LAFC. In March, he was back in Sierra Leone, doing work for his HeartShapedHands Foundation, which serves children in his homeland. Kamara represented the country 39 times before retiring from international soccer in 2022.

Just when he thought his club career might also be over, his agent called to inform him of LAFC’s interest. There was one caveat: He had to try out.

“I did it because it was LAFC,” Kamara said.

Kamara rushed home. He signed a few days later.

Three weeks ago, in a game against the San Jose Earthquakes at BMO Stadium, the 6-foot-3 Kamara scored the kind of goal he’d scored so many times before, soaring over a defender and heading the ball into the back of the net.

The goal was his second of the season and 146th of his MLS career. Donovan, the U.S. national team’s all-time co-leader in goals, retired with 145 goals in MLS.

Kamara scored his 147th two weeks later at the Rose Bowl against the Galaxy.

“There’s just something so beautifully serendipitous,” said Myhre, his youth coach.

Kamara offered a similar view.

“I think it was destined to happen now,” he said. “Because it could have happened last year in Chicago. And it could have happened on the road. And finally to happen here, at home, in front of friends and family, it’s a storybook that I couldn’t have dreamed of.”

Sports

Pro wrestling star learns what ‘land of opportunity’ means in US as he details journey from Italy to America

Published

11 hours ago

May 17, 2026

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Pro wrestling star learns what ‘land of opportunity’ means in US as he details journey from Italy to America

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Cristiano Argento has been tearing up opponents in the ring for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as he worked his way up the ladder to get a few shots at some gold.

But the path to get to one of the most prestigious pro wrestling companies in the U.S. was long and a path that not many wrestlers have taken.

Argento was born and raised in Osimo, Italy – a town of about 35,000 people located on the east side of the country closer to the Adriatic Sea. He told Fox News Digital he started training in a ring at a boxing gym before he got started on the independent scene in Italy. He wrestled in Germany, Sweden, France and Denmark before he came to the realization that, to become a professional wrestler, he needed to make his way to the United States.

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Cristiano Argento performs in the National Wrestling Alliance (Instagram)

He first worked his way to Canada to get trained by pro wrestling legend Lance Storm. He moved to Canada, leaving most of his friends and family behind and without a firm grasp on the English language.

“At the time, my English was horrible. I didn’t speak any English at all,” he said. “But I was with my friend, Stefano, he came with me and he translated everything for me. I probably missed 50% of the knowledge that Lance Storm was giving to us because I was unable to understand. I was only given a recap and everything I was able to see. I’m sure if I was doing it now with a proper knowledge of English, it would have been a different scenario.

“Eventually, I moved back to Italy after the training and I said, OK, now, I want to go to the U.S. So, I studied English more properly, and eventually I got my first work visa that was in Texas. I was in Houston for a short period of time. I trained with Booker T at Reality of Wrestling. I got on his show, which was my debut in the U.S. That was awesome. I eventually got a new work visa in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I currently live since 2017. Since then, my wrestling career, thankfully, kept growing, growing, growing and growing until now wrestling for the NWA. One of the bigger promotions in the U.S.”

Argento said that his family thought he was “nuts” for chasing his pro wrestling dream.

He said they were more concerned about his well-being given that he was half-way around the world without anyone he knew by his side in case something went sideways.

“My family, friends, everybody was like why do you want to move to the opposite side of the world not knowing the language, not knowing anybody, by yourself, to try to become a professional wrestler? And I was like, well, we have one life, I love, and that’s what I’m gonna do,” he told Fox News Digital. “Eventually, my family was really supportive. But when I first said, ‘Hey, mom and dad, I want to do that.’ They looked at me like, ‘Are you nuts? Are you drunk or something? What are you talking about?’ And I said, no that’s what I want to do. And they knew I loved this sport because in Italy I was traveling around Europe, spending time in Canada training, so they started to understand slowly that’s what I want to do with my life. They were proud of me.

Cristiano Argento works out in the gym. (Instagram)

“They’re still proud of me. I think more like the fact that you’re gonna try that, that it’s hard than more like you’re gonna leave us. The fact like, oh, my son is gonna go on the opposite side of the world for a six-hour time difference and we’re gonna see him maybe, when, like, I don’t know. Not often. I think it was more that. And for me too, it was really hard. It was heartbreaking not being able to see my family every day or every month. Like once a year if I’m lucky. I think that was the biggest part for them because of concern or that I was here by myself and if I have any issue or any problem, I didn’t have nobody. So they were scared. Like, you get sick, if you have a problem, anything, and they’re not being able to be here next to me. But they were really supportive since day one.”

Argento is living out his dream in the U.S. He suggested that the moniker of the U.S. being the “land of opportunity” wasn’t far from what is preached in movies and literature – it was the real thing.

“I was inspired by people who came to the U.S. and made it big,” Argento told Fox News Digital. “The U.S. was always like the land of opportunity. That’s how they sell it to us and this is what it is. I feel like, in myself, that was true because anything I tried to do so far I was able to reach a lot more than if I wasn’t here. I’m not yet where I’d like to be but I see like there’s so many opportunities in this country. Not just in wrestling but like in any business to reach the goal. I’m really happy of the choices I did here.

National Wrestling Alliance star Cristiano Argento poses in Times Square in New York. (Instagram)

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“But my big inspirations were big-time actors who moved to the country, who didn’t know English, with no money, no support system. I had one dream, I have to go right there to make it happen and I’m gonna go and do it and I’m gonna make it happen. So those people were always the biggest inspiration even if it wasn’t in wrestling, just how they handled their passion, how they pursued their dream without being scared of anything, how far you are, how alone by yourself … You don’t know the language, you’re like, let’s go, let’s do it.”

Outside of the NWA, Argento has performed for the International Wrestling Cartel, Enjoy Wrestling and Exodus Pro Wrestling this year.

Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.

Sports

Loyola wins Southern Section Division 1 lacrosse championship

Published

11 hours ago

May 17, 2026

Press Room

Loyola wins Southern Section Division 1 lacrosse championship

There’s no denying that Loyola’s lacrosse program is best in Southern California and could be that way for years to come with the number of elite young players participating.

On Saturday night, the Cubs (16-3) won their latest Southern Section Division 1 championship with a 14-6 win over Santa Margarita. The Cubs have won three title since the sport was adopted as a championship event in the Southern Section. Defense has been Loyola’s strength all season.

Senior defenders Chase Hellie and Everett Rolph and junior goalkeeper William Russo led one of the best defenses in program history under coach Jimmy Borell.

Senior Cash Ginsberg finished with five goals and junior North Carolina commit Tripp King finished with two goals.

In girls Division 1, Mira Costa upset top-seeded Santa Margarita 12-6.

Sports

Napoleon Solo wins 151st Preakness Stakes

Published

23 hours ago

May 17, 2026

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Napoleon Solo wins 151st Preakness Stakes

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Napoleon Solo took home the 2026 Preakness Stakes on Saturday, the 151st running of the race.

The favorite in Taj Mahal, the 1 horse, was in the lead from the start until the final turn until Napoleon Solo made his move on the outside and took the lead at the top of the stretch. As Taj Mahal fell off, Iron Honor, the 9 horse, snuck up, but the effort ultimately was not enough.

Napoleon Solo opened at 8-1 and closed at 7-1. Iron Honor, at 8-1, finished second, with Chip Honcho fishing third after closing at 11-1. Ocelli, one of just three horses to run both the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago and Saturday’s Preakness, finished fourth at 8-1.

A Preakness branded starting gate is seen on track prior to the 151st Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park on May 16, 2026 in Laurel, Maryland. For the first and only time, Laurel Park is hosting the Preakness Stakes which is the second race of the Triple Crown jewel due to the traditional home of the race of the Pimlico Race Course undergoing complete renovations. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

A $1 exacta paid out $53.60, while a $1 trifecta brought in $597.10. But someone out there is very lucky, as a $1 superhighfive – picking the top-five finishers in order – paid out $12,015.70.

Even moreso, a 20-cent Pick 6 – picking the winners of the six consecutive races, with the final being the Preakness, paid out $33,842.34.

The race was run without the Kentucky Derby winner for the second year in a row. After Sovereignty did not run the Preakness last year – and wound up winning the Belmont Stakes – the training team of Golden Tempo opted to skip the Maryland race.

From 1960 to 2018, only three Derby winners did not run in the Preakness. Three Derby winners have skipped the Preakness in the last five years, and for the sixth time in eight years, for various reasons, the Triple Crown had already been impossible to accomplish by the time the Preakness even rolled around.

“I understand that fans of the sport or fans of the Triple Crown are disappointed, but the horse is not a machine,” Golden Tempo’s trainer, Cherie DeVaux, told Fox News Digital earlier this week.

Paco Lopez, right, atop Napoleon Solo, edges out Iron Honor, ridden by Flavien Prat, to win the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes horse race, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

CHERIE DEVAUX REFLECTS ON MAKING KENTUCKY DERBY HISTORY AS FIRST FEMALE TRAINER TO WIN THE RACE

Only three horses from two weeks ago – Ocelli, Robusta, and Incredibolt, were back at the Preakness. Corona de Oro, the 11 horse on Saturday, was scratched well ahead of the Derby, and Great White, who reared up and fell on his back after becoming startled shortly before entering the Derby gate, took the 13 post on Saturday.

The Preakness went off roughly 24 hours after a horse died following the completion of his very first race.

Hit Zero, trained by Brittany Russell, came into the race as the favorite. However, he finished last in the race, which was won by another one of Russell’s horses, Bold Fact — and upon crossing the finish line, Hit Zero reportedly began coughing, dropped to his knees, then put his head down and died.

The Preakness took place at Laurel Park as Pimlico undergoes renovations. It was the first time ever that Pimlico did not host the race, moving roughly 20 miles south.

Paco Lopez, atop Napoleon Solo, wins the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes horse race, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The Belmont Stakes, the final Triple Crown race, will take place on June 6. The race will return to Saratoga for a third year in a row as Belmont Park continues to be renovated.

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