Police have mounted a barricade around the Freetown, Sierra Leone home of international soccer star, Kei Kamara after Jesus Owono in goal for Equatorial Guinea saved his dying minute penalty leading to the elimination of Sierra Leone from the ongoing African Cup of Nations, AFCON tournament.
The penalty loss by Kei Kamara on Thursday meant that Equatorial Guinea beat Sierra Leone 1-0 and as such sent the West African country out of the round of 16, at the AFCON.
Sierra Leone have needed a draw to earn a point to progress, but the 37-year-old striker Kei Kamara, missed the 84th-minute penalty, as it was saved by Jesus in goal for Equatorial Guinea.
• Kei Kamara
With the development, Equatorial Guinea finished second in Group E behind Côte d’Ivoire, who beat defending champions, Algeria 3-1 in Douala.
However, the penalty loss by Kei Kamara led to agitations in Freetown, as angry Sierra Leone fans wanted to burn down Kei Kamara’s house in the capital city.
The penalty loss by Kei Kamara, an American citizen, who is only one of 10 persons to have scored 100 goals in the MLS, is about the second penalty incident to have shadowed his career.
Kei Kamara had in 2016 raised an uproar after Columbus team mate, Federico Higuain denied him an opportunity to take a penalty against Montreal in a match on 7 May, 2016. At the point of the penalty incident, Kei Kamara had scored two goals with the potential of getting his first hattrick at that time.
The incidence led to Kei Kamara publicly calling out Higuain as a result of which he was suspended by team manager for the next game and not too long after sold off.
It is not known if Kei Kamara would return with the team to Sierra Leone or proceed to his United States base from Cameroon.
