"I hope I can really play with him for so many years," India's no 10 Sahal Samad opened up about his experience of playing with Sunil Chhetri and their upcoming fixtures

The SAFF Championship match between Nepal and India will take place on Saturday, June 24 at 7:30 pm (IST) at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. Nepal lost their opening match against Kuwait in the tournament on Wednesday. Talking about host nation India, they had a great outing against arch-rivals Pakistan in the opener. The Indians obliterated Pakistan as the scoreline read 4-0 by the end of the match. A hat trick of the highest class from skipper Sunil Chhetri made sure that India were always in the driver's seat. Sahal Samad has been excellent for Team India. He is currently playing as a no 10 and has shown his quality for the national side.

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International Career of Sahal Samad so far

Sahal Samad plays for Kerala Blasters in the ISL and made his debut for the national side against Curaçao in the 2019 King's Cup but unfortunately, they lost the game 3-1. He got his name on the list of the 23-men Indian squad for the 2021 SAFF Championship in Maldives. Sahal scored his first international goal against Nepal on 16 October 2021 in a 3–0 victory in the final of the tournament. He came as a substitute in the 86th minute and delivered.

After an impressive 2021–22 season, Sahal Samad made it to the squad for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. He scored his second international goal on 11 June 2022 against Afghanistan, where he came in again as a substitute for Sunil Chhetri in the last moments of the regular time. He scored the winning goal in the added time and helped India win the match 1–2 at full-time.

In May 2023, Sahal was included in the final squad for the 2023 Intercontinental Cup by coach Igor Štimac. He played his first match of the Intercontinental Cup by starting against Mongolia and scored the opening goal in the 2nd minute, as India won the match by the score of 2–0. He has become a regular starter for Team India and continuously improving his game.

"We need to contribute:" Sahal Samad, India's no 10 wants the younger players to score along with Sunil Chhetri

"It's important for a player to have the belief of the coach. So, I get this from him. And, that's why I could play freely and enjoy the game. So it's good, good." Sahal Samad said after the practice sessions.

When he got asked about how does he rate his performance personally and which area he wants to improve? he answered, "I never rate my performances. Obviously, there are rooms for improvement, of course. So I'm working on it. I think every aspect. There are rooms for improvement and mainly I think I need to start by contributing goals."

The next question was who he thinks are the favorites to win the SAFF Championship 2023? He answered confidently that India are the obvious favorites. "Obviously we are there. We have a good bunch of players, you know, and everyone has the experience, young talents coming up and yeah, the most difficult part is to defend the trophy and tomorrow coach will be not in the seat."

The question popped up as India's style of play over the years has changed. Under Igor, it has progressed and become very attacking. Sahal Samad is also now part of that in the front, the wing, and the center. So, how he thinks the work on the pitch has changed?

Sahal said, "The training has changed. That has helped us rise to evolve and play a different brand of football. We all know it's a position game to keep the ball as much as we can score the goals and we have a fantastic player who scores goals for us. And yeah, the coach asked us to change that we need to start scoring. Not just that obviously, we are happy to have him, you know, and yeah, it's been a process. Everything is a process, it can be suddenly changed. And I think four years, we started, started to see the change in a way of playing and we are really happy where we are going apart from coach your captain."

When he got asked about, when you get the ball, what is the instruction? Sahal answered, "As soon as we get the ball, we keep, try to keep it and move us forward, possible and try to score the goal."

Samad explained the professionalism of Sunil Chhetri

"Everything is the best example you can get from him (Sunil Chhetri). I would say and we are really, I'm really happy to be here with him and I hope I can really play with him for so many years."

Sahal Samad has been played as a right back and a winger also but now he plays as a no 10. So, what is his favourite position? Sahal Samad answered, "I started my career in different positions but I started my international career playing as the number 10. That's my favorite position. And you know, I'm really happy that he sees everything. I'm really thankful."