Red hot Olunga reveals what is engineering his goal rush

Michael Ogada Olunga was a celebrated local hero and Kenya’s next big thing when he signed with Swedish top flight club IF Djugardens in January but soon, the goals dried up as the lanky forward who had swept to all local honours in 2015 threatened to fall off the radar.

But wait. All over a sudden, Olunga has suddenly transformed into the most lethal striker in Sweden and indeed across Europe in a barnstorming run that brought eight goals in eight games for his club and on Monday, he was on target for his country when Harambee Stars beat DR of Congo 1-0 in Kinshasa.

Once again, the man fondly called the Engineer simply cannot stop bulging nets in Sweden or anywhere else he plays and Citizen Digital caught up with him to establish the reason behind the rich vein of form that has big European clubs antennas twitching.

“As a player celebrated back at home, I felt it was taking long for the goals to come but I was psychologically prepared because I knew it is a totally different environment.

“Coming from Africa it is difficult to adapt. In Kenya the tempo of the game is slow compared to Europe. The weather was a challenge and it was not going to be easy in the first year,” he explained the sluggish start in the top flight competition known as Allsvenskan.

“Patience and hard work kept me going. I knew I had all the qualities to be a good striker in Europe; it was just a matter of time,” the former Gor Mahia FC striker whose goals led them to the title last season said in assured poise.

The 2015 Kenyan Premier League Most Valuable Player hailed his club coach, Mark Dempsey who took over at Djugardens from Per Olsson who signed him as being pivotal to his resurgence.

“He has believed in me as the main striker after noting some unexploited potential. The new coach has helped me a lot and it’s my duty to repay his trust.

“It has made a big impact even in my national team output because of the confidence that is growing day by day. I’m now a dear to the Djugardens fans which is big motivation too,” Olunga underscored.

“Football is a game of goals. If you are scoring frequently, there is no doubt they will appreciate you. Sometimes I may not score but I ensure my work rate is noticeable. I owe them a lot because they were patient with me during the difficult times,” the striker hailed.

Olunga had set himself a target of 10 goals in his debut season at Djugardens and with five games left, he is confident he will surpass the tally.

“I featured in few first leg games and so being only two goals short of my target at this juncture fees great. It has been fantastic to strike eight goals in eight matches, which I all attribute to hard work.”

Having penned down a four-year contract with Djugardens, the Engineer is committed to the club but has not ruled out chances of moving to bigger leagues in Europe.

“Right now I’m focused at helping the club finish at the highest position as possible in the league, but if anything arises then it’s for the better. For now I want to keep it cool and see what happens at the end of the season,” he told.

-Credit Transfer-

The striker is due to start studies at Stockholm University in November after completing the gruelling procedure of transferring his credits from the Technical University of Kenya where he was studying geospartial engineering.

As the man charged with leading the goal hunt in the next generation of Stars, Olunga believes the national side will achieve great milestones in the next two years if current standards do not drop.

“The progress is gradual, we only need to keep improving in team spirit and gelling. So far we are doing well and the federation is very serious with the team.

“They say practice makes perfect and looking at the current team, we are doing well playing high profile matches from Congo, Zambia and now DRC. The results are trickling in day by day because the players are gelling well,” he emphasised.

“We are concentrating on the game, side shows are no more and that is key to good performance,” Olunga added urging the team to be involved in more high calibre build up matches to keep the flames alight.