Penalties are a matter of ‘life and death’ for Sierra Leoneans
The Leone Stars skipper admitted that his teammates are afraid of kicking from the penalty spot after Kei Kamara’s ordeal.
The Neuchatel Xamax man’s house was vandalized following a stoppage-time spot-kick miss in the qualifier clash against Liberia.
Kei Kamara was the next to see his house being targeted following a penalty miss in the
Africa Cup of Nationagainst Equatorial Guinea in Limbe.
If the 37-year-old had not missed the penalty against the Nzalang National, the goal would have ended at 1-1 and they would have made their way to the Round of 16.
Chatting with
BBC Sport Africa
, Bangura said that his teammates are scared of taking the responsibility of penalties.
"
Most of the boys have told me they're now scared of taking penalties because of what has happened to two senior players in the team, myself and Kei Kamara,"
he said.
"I backed off from taking penalties for Leone Stars because it's a matter of life and death for Sierra Leoneans.
"Nobody is 100 percent sure of scoring a penalty, so why would you step forward to take a penalty when you know that if you miss you are going to get hurt by your people?
"It's normal for a player to miss a penalty, [Riyad] Mahrez, [Lionel] Messi and other big stars have missed penalties. [Franck] Kessie, who always scores a penalty for his club, missed
against us when we played against Ivory Coast."
He then explained the trauma he had to go through as he considered hanging up his boots, but he was convinced by the Sierra Leone Football Association to keep playing.
"
When I missed a penalty against Liberia people insulted me, vandalized my house. I went through psychological torture for a year,”
the 34-year-old added.
"I healed when we qualified for the Nations Cup for the first time in 25 years after defeating Benin in Conakry.
"I felt relieved when I skippered the team to qualification. I knew I had given my country something I lost before."
"So I understand what Kamara is going through and his situation is the worst because he might not have anything again to give back to Sierra Leone and for Sierra Leoneans to forget about what has happened."
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