Sporting Kansas City central defender Ike Opara is not thinking about representing the United States national team at the moment because he wants to concentrate on his career, two years after he almost retired when he reputured his left Achilles tendon.

Born in North Carolina, United States 28 years ago to Nigerian parents, Opara was in the United States U20s squad at the Fifa U20 World Cup in Egypt back in 2009 and has played for the Olympic side.

''I'd love to be up there, but it's not on my radar at the moment, I just think that I've got too much to prove before I can consider that,'' Opara told mlssoccer.com.

''Obviously, putting together a full season again would be a good start, but I just want to be one of the leaders on our back line.

''For me, that's all I'm shooting for. Anything else is kind of icing on the cake to me.''

Ike Opara, who has no senior cap for the United States, will go head-to-head with Fanendo Adi on Saturday when Portland Timbers and Sporting KC face off in the American top flight.

Igho Kingsley

Photo Credit : sportingkc.com