Okon Jr ready to follow path blazed by his father

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Okon Jr ready to follow path blazed by his father

Paul Okon-Engstler is eager to follow in the footsteps of his famous father and lead the Young Socceroos to their first U20 World Cup in over a decade.

Okon Jr, a midfielder currently on the books of Portuguese giants Benfica, is in China as part of Australia’s squad for the U20 Asian Cup.

A semi-final finish or better will guarantee Australia qualifies for this year’s World Cup, which kicks off in May in Chile.

Australia hasn’t made it to an U20 World Cup – a tournament historically seen as a shop window for emerging players – since 2013.

The Young Socceroos’ recent struggles on the global stage flies in the face of the success Paul Okon Snr enjoyed as captain in 1991 Youth World Cup.

Okon Snr led a team containing the likes of Tony Popovic, Mark Bosnich and Steve Corica to the semi-finals, an achievement that remains one of the best performances by an *********** junior national team at a World Cup.

Okon Jr captained Australia’s U20s last year and appears the leading contender to take the armband in Wednesday’s tournament opener against Kyrgyzstan.

“It’s always special to captain your country,” Okon Jr told AAP.

“It’s a big responsibility and for me it’s special because my father has done it and I’ve had the chance to share the same role as him.

“You have a different responsibility for your team and I like that opportunity.

“I’ve obviously spoken to him about it, I didn’t know he’d captained Australia at an Under 20s World Cup and he said it would be good if I could do that too.”

After facing Kyrgyzstan, the Young Socceroos will meet Qatar (February 15) and hosts China (February 18) to round out their group stage matches.

For the 20-year-old Okon, it’s a rare chance to show his talent after he has been restricted to just four games at club level in Benfica’s B team.

“It hasn’t been the best year for me, in terms of game time,” he said.

“I’ve obviously prepared myself for this tournament, and I think I’m ready to to display (my quality with) my performances and help my team.

“When a player doesn’t play, they get frustrated. It’s normal.

“I think at a club like Benfica it’s difficult to always be playing but at this age I think it’s important to be playing constantly.

“My focus is on here and living in the moment, I’ll worry about that other stuff when this tournament finishes.”

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