Steve Carrillo

LA Galaxy lose Ola Kamara to international duty. Will miss Portland and Open Cup games

LA Galaxy striker Ola Kamara has been called up to the Norwegian National Team for two friendlies in early June.

While Kamara will be available for the Galaxy’s Wednesday night matchup with the FC Dallas, the Norwegian forward will then depart the club the following day before taking on Iceland in Reykjavik on Saturday, June 2 (1 p.m.). He’ll then travel to Norway where they’ll host Panama at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 6 in Oslo.

That will result in Kamara missing the Galaxy’s match against the Portland Timbers (June 2, 2 p.m. ESPN2) and their home US Open Cup match against FC Golden State Force on Wednesday, June 6 (7:30 p.m., StubHub Center Track & Field Stadium).

In his most recent appearance for Norway Kamara scored three times en route to a 4-1 win over Australia. He also returned with a nagging hip flexor injury which took weeks of playing through some discomfort before finally feeling 100-percent in the Galaxy’s 3-2 loss to the New York Red Bulls.

Originally debuting for Norway in October of 2013, Kamara has made a total of 10 appearances for his country.

To date, Kamara has only missed one game this season: a 0-0 draw with Vancouver on March 24 — also due to international duty. He has started 11 games while tallying five goals and leads the team in goals and shots (28).

The Galaxy are 5-6-0 when Kamara starts and his goal-scoring accounts for nearly 1/3rd of their total offense.

Kamara will next be available for the Galaxy when they host Real Salt Lake on Saturday, June 9 (7:30 p.m.; SpectrumSN, SpectrumDeportes). That will be the last game before the league observes a two-week World Cup break. That break will last until the club faces off against the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, June 30 at Standford Stadium in Palo Alto (7 p.m. Unimas).

Kamara joins Jonathan and Giovani dos Santos (Mexico National Team), and Efrain Alvarez (Mexico U-17) as Galaxy players on international duty.

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