Mohun Bagan: Can Sahal Abdul Samad play in Kolkata derby?

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Mohun Bagan still have a few more days to prepare for the Kolkata derby. They have a mostly fit squad in their hand. However, in their most recent training session, their star player Sahal Abdul Samad was seen missing training with the first team.

As per Kolkata24x7 reports, he was seen doing his fitness training on the sidelines for the training session. Considering Mohun Bagan still have at least four days to train, Sahal might recover by that time. He should be seen training with the first team soon enough.

Even if he recovers fully, it will still depend on the coach whether he would start him. The Mariners still have six matches left to play and they need to keep winning to win the shield. They have been in terrific form since the ISL 2023-24 second half started.

Mohun Bagan started the second half of this Indian Super League season with as draw in the first Kolkata derby. It was their home match against East Bengal which they levelled into the late minutes of the match. Since then, the Mariners are on a 5-match unbeaten run.

They can't afford to lose points at this stage. Hence, the Mariners will look for a win this time in the Kolkata derby. However, it's hard to say whether coach Habas will want to risk one of his best players in the team.

Sahal has missed five ISL matches so far this season with injuries. Even though he travelled with the Indian football team to Qatar for their Asian Cup campaign, he still missed most games due to his injury. However, India will soon face Afghanistan.

The two teams will meet in the later part of March for World Cup qualifiers. In the hopes of getting called up for these two matches, Sahal will also want to get a little more playing time.