One of the few bright spots from a disappointing Toronto FC season was rewarded for his tremendous play, as Nana Attakora was named Canadian Under-20 2009 player of the year.

Toronto FC’s sluggish back-four was only made respectable on occasion because of Attakora’s determination and willingness to get the job done.  Attakora was called on to play right-back and centre-back last season and he surely delivered, as TFC seem to have quite the young player on there hands.

Below is the press release from TFC:

Toronto FC announced Wednesday that defender Nana Attakora has been named the recipient of the Canadian U-20 Player of the Year Award for the 2009 season. Attakora is now a two-time winner after receiving the honour in 2008.

The vote for the award was shared by national-team coaches (50%) and Canadian coaches who have taken the Canadian Soccer Association’s national course at the B and A levels (50%).

Attakora, who will turn 21 in March, served as Canadian captain at the U-20 level. In March, he represented Canada at the 2009 CONCACAF Men’s Under-20 Championship. He made his 20th appearance at the U-20 level on March 9, 2009 in a 2-0 victory over Mexico.

This past season with Toronto FC, Attakora increased his playing time significantly from 318 minutes in 2008, to 1652 minutes in 2009 starting in 19 of 20 games played. The international also added two goals and four assists and was twice named the Man of the Match (September 12 vs. Colorado and October 10 vs. San Jose). The defender was also named Toronto FC’s Player of the Month for both June and August.

Final list:

Nana Attakora (36.5)
Marcus Haber (31.6)
David Hoilett (14.95)
Randy Edwini-Bonsu (10.4)
Adam Straith (5.2)
Eddy Sidra (0.7)
Adam Street (0.35)

– Alex Seixeiro