TWENTY years old Sodiq Okunola is one Rangers International football Club player who is confident the former Nigeria league champions will roar back to reckoning in the second stanza of the Nigeria Professional Football League. As a young player who graduated from the junior team of the club, Okunola is still patient on the wings, waiting for his chance to really prove he is worthy of his promotion.

Sodiq Okunola

Despite not have made his senior debut, the striker said he is full of confidence in the squad as he is optimistic of their chances in securing a continental ticket at the end of the season. Said he, “Our performances have been very encouraging and it is my belief that we are not yet where we ought to be. However, we hope to earn a continental ticket at the end of the current season.”

Okunola, the grandson of Yusuf Okunola, a former Stationery Stores Football Club of Lagos star said he owes his football career to his grandfather who was his biggest fan when he a kid playing on the sandy playgrounds around Lagos.

“I began my career in Lagos with Stanley Global Academy and I owe it to one of my friends who introduced me to the academy. We used to play street football together. One day, he told me to accompany him to training at the academy. I followed him there. After a while, the coach saw that I was good and he told me I would be enlisted as one of their players. That was how I started.

It was from there that I went to Rangers junior team.”

Now promoted to the senior team, Okunola says he is yet to make his bow for the senior team but he remains hopeful that very soon, he will star for the Flying Antelopes in a league game. “Rangers have a  large squad made up of very good and experienced players. But I am ready to learn from them while I am waiting for my time. When the opportunity come, I will take it with both hands,” he said.

“No player feels happy sitting on the bench but all it takes is patience. I will continue to work hard and wait for my time.”

Okunola said the Nigerian league is tough, even tougher when you are involved. “The league is very competitive and that makes it one of the best in Africa.”

The young Rangers forward said there are a lot of good players in the Nigeria Professional Football League and the Super Eagles would be better off if more NPFL players are selected to feature. “The current Super Eagles is not a true representation of Nigeria football because we have a lot of good players in Nigeria.”

The young Rangers forward insisted that the Flying Antelopes are targeting a continental ticket at the end of the season. “We are working hard to ensure achieve our target. That is why I am calling on our supporters to keep faith in the team and continue to support us as management is doing everything possible to give us the desired push to make us succeed.”