With a longer football season, we will get better as players: Sahal Abdul Samad

Indian striker Sahal Abdul Samad is hopeful that with a longer football season, they will get better as players. India is slowly but surely improving its game and the Hero Indian Super League has played a massive role in developing the game in the country.

Meanwhile, Samad recently hogged the limelight when he scored the winner against Afghanistan at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata in the team’s second game of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers to help the Blue Tigers win the thriller by 2-1.

India went on to win all of their three matches against Cambodia (2-0), Afghanistan and Hong Kong (4-0) to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup 2023.

Sahal Abdul Samad said while talking to the Times of India, “As players, we all need game time. The longer the season is, the better a player gets. That gets you into the rhythm for football.”

On the other hand, Indian defender Anwar Ali has had a tough career so far. Ali had earlier suffered a heart disease but he bounced back stronger. The youngster scored against Hong Kong in the team’s third game, which was his maiden goal for the national team and he is delighted with his individual performance.

He said, “I am still young and I really look forward to being a part of Indian football’s golden era now. I am really happy about how we have been approaching the matches.”

“I am very happy scoring my first goal for the country. It was a team game and the credit goes to everyone involved,” the 21-year-old defender said.

India certainly would have grown in confidence by their impressive performance in the qualifiers. Meanwhile, former Indian player Ishwaq Ahmed feels one of the biggest positives from the qualification was the rise of young Indian players.

“When you see the likes of Jeakson (Singh), Akash (Mishra), Roshan (Singh) stepping their game up after the team management put their faith on them to start ahead of other experienced players, it shows how the youngsters have now formed the core of the national team. Even Sunil (Chhetri) was jumping in the dugout once Ishan (Pandita) scored the final goal against Hong Kong. That shows the team spirit this lot currently have,” Ishfaq said in a live twitter podcast hosted by Indian Super League.