From defence to attack: Odafa is the man for all seasons

“In Bangladesh,I scored 14 goals in the first season as a midfielder and we finished second in the national league. When I came back to India,Churchill Brothers were looking for a striker and I had no problems playing upfront,” said Odafa.

Complete player
The leap,Odafa stresses,isn’t astonishing for a ‘complete’ footballer. “If you are a footballer,you should be able to play anywhere. Even when I was the central defender and midfielder,I used to play all across the ground,” he says.

His exploits this season must have upped his stakes for the next,but he isn’t getting buoyed by the numbers as yet. Churchill Brothers coach Zoran Djordjevic,in fact,is giving it all to a piece of statistic that had turned the tables on their heads last year. “We’ve been four-time runners up. We missed the trophy by a goal difference of just two last season. So this year,right from the beginning,we had an eye on maintaining a big lead there,” said Djordjevic.

The coach avoids favouritism and keeps fingers crossed ahead of his team’s final-round match against Mohammedan Sporting on April 16. “Odafa is wonderful,magnificent and god-gifted but he has to share his success with everybody. I agree we have been lucky to have the best player in the I-League,but I can’t treat him in a different way,” the Serbian added.

The religious striker isn’t sure how many more he is going to score against Sporting to clear Churchill’s way to a maiden I-League title,but is confident of shrugging off the runners-up tag. “I’m thankful to god that he’s listened to my prayer after so long. I just hope it goes the same way in our last match. And I’m confident Mohun Bagan aren’t going to win it.”