Kolkata: An all-Indian starting 11 for a Kolkata derby is a rare thing. But there it was in the opening match of the 135th Durand Cup with which a new season kicked off at the Salt Lake stadium here on Saturday.
A number of those who started for Mohun Bagan Super Giant and East Bengal will be squad players for the full season 2026-27 promises to be. The pre-season tournament is their chance to get coaches Panagiotis Dilmperis and Antonio Lopez Habas to change their minds.
Sahal Abdul Samad will hope to do that with the match’s only goal that fetched Mohun Bagan bragging rights. Samad made only five starts and came off the bench six times in the short 2024-25 Indian Super League (ISL) season. One of those substitute appearances was against Punjab FC, Dilmperis’s former club. In that comeback 3-2 win, Samad scored with a superb arcing long-range effort. It was his only goal of the season.
The one to set the Durand Cup going was a tap-in but coming against the defending ISL champions would have meant a lot to the player and the fans who had fetched up in numbers less than a week after the World Cup had ended. It came in the 53rd minute as East Bengal tried playing out from the back and lost possession.
Making the most of a rare start, Kiyan Nassiri bundled Rohit Kumar off the ball, ran a few yards and played a square pass hoping either Manvir Singh or Samad would connect. Singh missed but took away a defender and Samad stabbed home. “It was a team goal,” said Samad of his first derby goal.
Playing out from the back is not associated with ISL teams coached by Habas but it could be remnants of Oscar Bruzon’s championship winning season. Like Dilmperis, Habas has just taken over at East Bengal and used the derby to check out Rohit Kumar, Rohit Danu, Sandip Mandi and try Edmund Lalrindika behind lone striker David Lalhlansanga.
Chasing the game, Habas threw on PV Vishnu, Mohamad Rashid and Daniel Fernandez as East Bengal began to look like how they possibly will by the time ISL starts, or if they go deep in this competition. Dilmperis reacted by giving Dezan Drazic, one of Mohun Bagan’s big buys in the close season, a little over half-an-hour.
Like he had last term to accommodate Robson, Drazic’s arrival forced Liston Colaco to shift to the right. That could again mean Singh losing his place in the starting 11. Singh, 30, had only seven starts last term because Colaco played on the right and one from Jamie MacLaren, Jason Cummings or Dimitrios Petratos was used as striker.
With Maclaren yet to arrive, Singh started where he has for India, as a targetman. Beyond a header off an Abhishek Tekcham delivery, Singh didn’t have much to show for. With Mohun Bagan also signing Lallinazuala Chhangte, the Durand Cup is a chance for Singh, 30, to show that in his sixth year at the club, he can be more than an impact substitute.
Rashid forced a good save from Vishal Kaith, who also had to get big to deny Lalchungnunga in the 80th minute. Having closed down Tekcham’s threat on the overlap in the second half, East Bengal had more of the ball as Mohun Bagan dropped deep and Fernandez clipped the outside of the post.
“I am angry with the result but happy with the performance because I am getting to know the team. And yet we had seven, eight chances to score. Their goalie was decisive in the outcome,” said Habas. Dilmperis said dropping deep was not part of the plan. “The team was not ready physically and mentally because we have had only three sessions.”
If East Bengal ended better, Mohun Bagan had more of the early exchanges with Tekcham also finding Nassiri, Colaco trying a header and Samad hitting the side-netting. But as so often happens with an attacking full back, Lalhlansanga found space vacated by Tekcham and it needed a block from Rahul Bheke to keep things level till half-time.
