The center back missed most of the 2014 season after a major ankle injury, but he has come back in style.

NEW YORK — What a difference one year has made for Ike Opara.

The Sporting Kansas City defender turned in his latest outstanding performance of a strong start to 2015 on Saturday night, delivering a game-winning goal at Yankee Stadium to help his side post its first win of the season.

It was almost exactly one year ago to the day that Opara was rolling around the penalty area, writhing in pain, after suffering an ankle injury that would end his 2014 season just as it was getting started.

Last season was supposed to be a breakout year for Opara, who one season earlier had helped Sporting KC win an MLS Cup title as the understudy to the best center back tandem in MLS. Everything changed when Opara went to clear a ball, only to have his swinging leg crash into the raised foot of Colorado defender Jared Watts, leading to the third major injury of Opara’s career.

One year later, you couldn’t tell Opara had missed almost a full season. He dominated in the air and covered ground all over the field defensively, helping stifle New York City FC’s attack. Then there was Opara’s goal, which he skied over the NYCFC defense to head home off a Matt Besler throw-in.

"We always knew that Ike could make an impact on both sides of the ball,” Besler told Goal USA. “He’s been outstanding for us so far. A lot of the focus will be on the attacking set pieces, because he’s such a threat, but if you look defensively, he’s been a rock. He’s made the plays when he’s needed to make them, and then he’s getting more and more comfortable on the ball, which is a great sign.”

Just how good has Opara been so far in 2015? Through the first month of the season, Opara is posting dominant defensive stats. He is currently either first or second in the league in interceptions, headed clearances, clearances and duels won. He also has scored a pair of goals, and could be leading the league if he had converted all of the jaw-dropping headers he’s produced on Sporting KC set pieces.

That isn’t bad production for a player who readily admits it took him some time to shake the uncertainty that can creep in after suffering a handful of major injuries. The fearlessness he has shown going after opposing attackers shows Opara has succeeded in battling those demons.

“In preseason it took me some time, and even the first game of the season I was still a little worried,” Opara told Goal USA. “I just promised myself that if I’m going to half-ass it I’m not going to be out here. I’m going to give it my all or I’m not going to be out here.

“I think over the first couple of weeks I’ve felt improvement with my physical status, to my fitness, to my soccer form. I feel like everything’s been getting better and better every week.”

Opara’s outstanding form has left Sporting Kansas City looking pretty smart after a personnel decision made last winter that raised some eyebrows. Sporting KC traded away former MLS Cup MVP Aurelien Collin in the offseason, sending him to Orlando City. While salary cap considerations were a driving force behind the move, a key reason Sporting KC felt comfortable making the move was because of the presence of Opara, who showed in 2013 that he could excel if given playing time.

“I had 100 percent confidence in Ike,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes told Goal USA. “I actually thought if Ike would have been healthy last year, who knows, he may have come in and been the man.

“He’s been a little bit unlucky, and has a bit of an unfair label that he gets hurt all the time,” Vermes said. “A couple of the injuries have been imposed on him. Not like he blows a hamstring out. Look at last year, when a guy absolutely crushed him.”

Vermes has been a fan of Opara’s long before he acquired him prior to the 2013 MLS season. Opara was on Sporting KC’s draft radar in 2010, but the San Jose Earthquakes drafted Opara the pick before Kansas City. Vermes spent the next few years trying to pry Opara away from the Earthquakes, making trade offers even as a pair of foot surgeries cost Opara considerable playing time in 2010 and 2011.

The Earthquakes finally gave in to Vermes’ lengthy quest to land Opara, dealing him to Sporting KC after the 2012 MLS season for a second-round pick. Opara’s first year in Kansas City was like a dream. He played a career-high 19 matches as the primary back-up to Besler and Collin, helping Sporting KC to an MLS Cup title.

Opara would have posed a serious challenge for a starting center back role in 2014 before the major ankle injury, but that missed time didn’t stop Vermes and Sporting KC from trading Collin and making Opara a starter. That move has served to inspire Opara, who is now playing like the standout he was expected to be when he first arrived in MLS five seasons ago.

“I think earlier on in my career I would have taken it on with more pressure, maybe it would have affected me in a negative way,” Opara said. “I think for the first time I took it with the mindset that this is an opportunity. When you have a staff that believes in you like they do, I’m just trying to repay their trust in me. Letting Aurelien go, one of the best defenders in this league, shows that they have confidence in me. Each game that I’m playing I’m just trying to repay that trust.”

Opara is so focused on rewarding Sporting KC’s faith that he didn’t even notice the coincidence in timing between Saturday night’s performance and the injury he suffered exactly one year earlier. He wasn’t made aware of it until the next day, when his girlfriend reminded him of the anniversary. The coincidence wasn’t lost on Opara, who saw it as a sign.

“Shows you how things can turn around,” he said. “A year ago was such a tough experience, but here I am and things are headed in a good direction.”