Ike Opara is hoping to play a major role in Sporting Kansas’ quest to challenge for honours in the new season.

Injuries have limited the former USA youth international’s involvement in recent seasons, playing only 6 games before he was ruled out for the rest of the 2015 campaign due to a ruptured left Achilles tendon and the previous year he broke his ankle in March.

“I’m always ready. Even the days that I’m not, I convince myself that I am. I’ve never looked at it as, Am I ready or am I not? I just do it. Hopefully, I do it well when I play,” Ike Opara said.

“I know how hard I work, and I’m not going to let other people label me as injury-prone or however.

“Whether that may be the case or not, for me, I’m not trying to worry about what other people say. I know what I have to do.”

In their first competitive fixture of 2016, Sporting Kansas are guests to Seattle Sounders on Sunday afternoon at CenturyLink Field.

Igho Kingsley

Photo Credit : mlssoccer.com