By now, James Sands has a decent impression of the demands of life at Ibrox but he also has aims of his own against Ajax on the Champions League stage.
Following a very competent shift in the tough environment away to Napoli, the USMNT cap carried on his progress with a big impact on Saturday against Aberdeen. Ajax is up next and as well as putting points on the board for Rangers, he also wants to utilise the vast audience of the elite European stage to send a message to Gregg Berhalter ahead of the World Cup in Qatar.
Having lost his place in the squad recently, Sands was affirmative when asked if he needs to shine against the Dutch champions in order to get back into the limelight on the international scene:
“Yes, I really believe so. These are the closest games you get to the World Cup game and I was not called in for the US national team camp and I think that was because of some of the struggles I’ve had. The sending-off against Napoli, the Ajax game (in Amsterdam). But it also works the other way around. I can play myself back into the team with a good performance on Tuesday.”
The utility man also spoke of the need to return something to the Rangers fans as well as the team atoning for previous disappointments in what has been a very difficult campaign. Sands will most likely line up in central defence next to Leon King with the challenge of shutting out the significant Ajax threat.
On the night, any kind of win would be a major positive for the Gers with plenty to play for individually and collectively.