A former TFC captain’s struggle in war-torn Ukraine was akin to a sci-fi film — scenes so “chaotic” they appeared out of this world.

Paranormal experts call what Darren O’Dea experienced the last year while playing for Ukraine’s Metalurh Donetsk a “time lapse”.

“I can barely remember a game,” he recently told the Toronto Sun from his home in Glasgow, Scotland, where he’s patiently waiting to “most likely” sign a new deal in England.

But instead of looking forward, the 27-year-old Irish international is happy — even relieved after severing ties in Ukraine — to look back on his “crazy” year-long stay in a country ripped apart by Russia.

When Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was blown out of the sky by pro-Russian forces this past summer, O’Dea told the Sun it was “confirmation” the country wasn’t safe.

“It puts everything into perspective,” O’Dea said, “especially when I was very near where the plane was shot down.

“The first thing that popped into my head was that it could have been my wife and daughter flying over.”

Instead, it was 298 others who perished in the skies of Donetsk, allegedly from a missile delivered by pro-separatist rebels.

“If you ever needed assurance it wasn’t safe or wasn’t a good place to be, that was it,” O’Dea explained.

“I feel guilty saying it, but you’re thankful you aren’t there. But for the people impacted by it, it’s awful. I should have left the country a lot earlier than I did.”

O’Dea recalls hunkering down at the club’s training ground one afternoon when protests began to kick up earlier this year.

“The protests turned violent. Things like that happened,” O’Dea explained.

It got worse from there.

With the airspace above Donetsk shut down in May, Metalurh was forced to bus 10 hours for an away date at Tavriya, a club in the disputed southern region of Crimea.

When they reached the border, O’Dea and his foreign teammates were accosted by gun-toting Russian border guards.

“After five hours of conversation, and the government in Moscow getting involved, we were eventually let through,” O’Dea recounted.

“We arrived very late, played the next afternoon and got out quickly. We won in the end, as well.”

It didn’t matter to O’Dea. He was already looking for a way out.

“I didn’t care how the team did when I was there,” O’Dea added. “That’s an awful way to be, but that’s the position I was in.”

Ukraine wasn’t like being in Toronto, where O’Dea says he wanted desperately to win.

In Ukraine, O’Dea constantly “kept an eye out” for things off the pitch.

But he was struggling to cope with things on the pitch, too.

“The coach there was the worst I’ve ever been under, an absolute joke of a guy,” O’Dea said of Sergei Tashuyev, who’s now managing in Russia.

O’Dea said his “clown” coach at the time was one of the main reasons he struggled to settle.

“I’d been out of the team with a slight injury and the team hadn’t kept a clean sheet in seven games, but then kept two or three in a row when I got back in,” O’Dea explained.

“Then I was left out of the team. I wasn’t happy and I told him. He told me he had to put four Ukrainian players on the pitch at all times.

“But when we went out he started the game with five Ukrainians, which meant I could have been in the team.

“I couldn’t believe he was actually the manager of a club. He couldn’t run a McDonalds store, never mind a club.”

Distant memories at this point, just like Major League Soccer.

But that doesn’t mean he’s not keeping a close eye on how the league’s new collective bargaining agreement is shaping up.

“I’ve been advised to wait for the outcome of that,” O’Dea said. “I speak to people in Toronto all of the time. I have a lot of friends in Toronto. But I haven’t spoken to anyone officially at the club.”

Charismatic as usual, O’Dea took a playful shot at some of his former TFC teammates.

“I haven’t had a text for a year,” he joked. “That’s strange. I bet if I signed in Spain or something I’d be getting texts no doubt.”

All part of the trials and tribulations of playing club ball in a war zone.

“It’s crazy to even contemplate living in the place,” O’Dea said of Ukraine. “I don’t want to jinx myself, but I like to think that was my hardest year. I wasn’t enjoying being a footballer.”

He’s open to once again enjoying soccer in MLS, just not in Montreal.

“They would need to offer me double (the money) I got in Ukraine,” O’Dea said. “I don’t think they have that.”

REDS NAB DELGADO OFF CHIVAS

Toronto FC selected midfielder/fullback Marco Delgado in Wednesday’s Chivas dispersal draft.

The defunct MLS club’s players were eligible for selection this week after the league decided to contract the embattled L.A.-based franchise ahead of next season.

Delgado is a 19-year-old, former U.S. youth international who has a wealth of MLS experience at a young age. In 2014, he appeared in 20 games, scoring two goals and adding an assist.

kurtis.larson@sunmedia.ca