Liberian kid, Teeboy Kamara, 15, in line for A-League debut


by: Ray Gatt
From:The Australian
December 16, 201110:35AM



TEENAGE sensation Teeboy Kamara, on the verge of becoming the youngest player to take the field in the history of the national football competition, says he "never saw it coming" after being named in the Adelaide United squad to play Gold Coast United at Hindmarsh Stadium tonight.

Desperate to get the Reds back on track after a slow start to the season, coach Rini Coolen produced a selection shock, calling Kamara aside after training to tell him the news.

At 15 years and 212 days, the Liberian refugee and Australian under-17 representative will become the youngest player to grace the A-League if he gets on the field at some stage tonight.

He will eclipse the previous record held by Newcastle Jets youngster James Virgili, who made his debut at 16 years and 180 days when he played against Wellington in January 2009.

Given his youth, Adelaide United opted not to inform media of his selection until late yesterday, thus shielding him from any attention.

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However, Kamara was quick to jump on to his Facebook page to let the world know.

"This is amazing . . . I didn't see it coming," Kamara said on the social networking website.

He was more expansive later, when his story was made public on the A-League website.

"I found out after training this morning.

"He (Coolen) called me aside and said, 'Teeboy you're in the squad', and I was like, 'in the Youth Team squad?' and he said 'No, the first team,' and I was, like, wow," Teeboy told the Football Federation Australia website.

"Rini said that I've impressed so I deserve it.

"It feels like just yesterday I was playing soccer in the back yard and at the park with my mates in Salisbury kicking the ball around and going to watch the A-League and thinking, whoa, these guys are freaks, am I ever going to be here.

"I remember not even dreaming of being on TV or playing for a club like Adelaide United in a competition like the A-League.

"So to be this young and have the chance to make my debut, I can't wait and I want to make sure I prove to Rini and the people at Adelaide United that I'm good enough to play in the A-League."

Kamara, who has blistering pace and wonderful skills, played with the Australian under-17s in the World Youth Cup in Mexico in June.

He made three appearances as a substitute before the Joeys were eventually eliminated in the second round.

Sadly, on his return from Mexico, he lost his mother through illness.

The death of his mother affected him deeply, but he found the courage and determination to move on.

"I had two options. I could have thought to myself that my mum has passed away, so stuff soccer, stuff life, I still want my mum . . . the other option was to look at it like Mum has passed away but she's probably still looking at me, she loved me playing soccer and what's the point of stopping now because she already put me half way there," Kamara said.

He has been a member of the Reds' national youth squad for 12 months, playing under former Adelaide defender Michael Valkanis.

"Rini has watched him quite a few times and obviously a number of the youth boys go up and train with the senior team, so he has a close eye on them and he has seen how Teeboy has dominated in a lot of the youth games with his hard work. And now he has been given an opportunity," Valkanis told the website.

"Regardless of his age, I think he is physically capable, he shows that at training with the senior boys, mature-wise he's got a good football brain, he keeps it simple, he's very quick and he understands what has to be done."

Kamara fled to Australia from strife-torn Liberia with his mother and older brother (now 21) and sister (now 17) when he was just six years old.

He grew up in Salisbury and was quickly recognized as a prodigious talent and snapped up by the South Australian Sports Institute before finding his way to the Australian Institute of Sport.