This former Fulham player can’t stop winning medals as he’s made it two in 30 months after leaving the Cottage
Club Bruges 0-0 Cercle Bruges
A goalless draw at home to local rivals Cercle proved just enough for Denis Odoi’s Club Bruges team to grab the title back from Royal Antwerp.
The eyes of an entire country turned to the Jan Breydel Stadion in Bruges on Sunday. And the hosts had to dig deep to win a 19th league title, a fourth in their last five seasons which typifies the stranglehold they have on Belgian football.
In the end they topped the rankings by finishing one point clear of Union Saint-Gilloise after completing the regular season 19 POINTS behind them.
A draw was enough to see Bruges over the line. Yet any prospective setback and elation would have gone to deflation with the south Brussels club or Anderlecht potentially cashing in.
And Bruges had to do it without Brentford-bound Brazilian striker Igor Thiago who had already played his last game for the club a fortnight ago in the 2-2 draw against the runners-up.
In the broad scheme of things, former Cottager Odoi clearly made a major role in Bruges’ fortunes as he got his hands on a second league title in two-and-a-half seasons in northwest Belgium.
Vivacious, assured and fights for every ball Odoi, at 35, showed once again why he can still be counted upon next season. Be it as a right back as yesterday or defensive midfielder. Be it in the Pro League or in the Champions League. The man who left Fulham after one promotion and two relegations in January 2022 still has lot to contribute.
And against the city neighbours, he made his spacial presence felt with a great sense of expectation. And he also rescued his side at the conclusion of the first half when he impressively covered a lot of territory to head the ball away from Felipe Da Silva who found himself in a promising position to head home.
When it comes to terrestrial issues, he didn’t put a foot wrong either as he intercepted a big amount of balls thanks to his reading of the game and the kind of determination Fulham supporters used to admire about him.
Fearing the worst if they opened up, Bruges were delighted to see out the draw but it might all have gone tragically wrong.
After a lengthy monitor assessment the referee ruled that Lopes Da Silva was in an offside in the build-up to Cercle’s goal.
It would have been the goal to spike Club Bruges’s firearms. But despite the frequency of domestic silverware, in the end both the fans and Odoi had plenty of reasons to celebrate. Because no one saw this league title coming less than two months ago.
And there are no two ways about the fact that leaving Fulham has handsomely paid off for the 2018 playoff semi-final hero with his medal collection expanding by the season at Belgium’s equivalent of Manchester City.
Asked by Capital Football whether he would get ‘smashed’ tonight Odoi joked that he doesn’t drink alcohol.
