Nana Attakora admitted it was a great feeling to be given another opportunity by the San Jose Earthquakes.
The 23-year old Canadian defender returned to San Jose from Finnish club Haka in February and in the absence of three first team players, got the chance to start in the 1-0 victory over Seattle Sounders on the weekend.
Attakora, who made a handful of appearances for the Quakes in 2011, starred as a makeshift defence kept a clean sheet and he was delighted with his performance as San Jose went fourth on the Western Conference table.
"I'm happy I got to do it at home," Attakora said.
"I felt like I needed to prove to the people here what I'm capable of doing. I don't think I got a chance to do that in 2011, so ... I'm happy with the way things went."
Attakora declined his selection in the Canadian team for friendlies with Japan on Friday and Belarus on Monday, both in Doha, but said he would rather put his club first especially with Honduran international Victor Bernardez away on duty.
"It made no sense to travel a silly amount of time just to sit on the bench. And plus, Victor's gone and Victor's such a huge part of this team. It was a chance for me to prove to everybody and myself what I can do," he added.
