NEW DELHI: It's a matter of great pride for Indian football as the national championships Santosh Trophy finally made its debut on the foreign land with Meghalaya staging a fine comeback 2-1 win over former champions Punjab in the semifinals at the King Fahd International International Stadium in Riyadh on Wednesday.
Playing in the first semis, Meghalaya made an impressive fightback as they rallied from a goal down to get the better of their eight-time champions opponents.
The mighty Punjab side came into the semis without losing a match and they had topped their group in both the first and second rounds.
The semifinals, the third-place play-off and the final is being played in Riyadh as the Santosh Trophy is being held at the foreign shores for the first time in its history.
Paramjit Singh had given Punjab lead in the 16th minute but Meghalaya restored parity in the 37th minute through Figo Syndai when he coolly slotted home after Nikelson Bina had headed down on the face of the goal.
Meghalaya controlled large parts of the match after the equaliser but could not find a goal till the fag end of the match.
Sheen Stevenson Sohktung found the target in the injury time (90+1) in the match played in the near empty King Fahd International Stadium.
Punjab, who left out a few players that had played in the second round in Bhubaneswar, thus have to wait for the title which they last won in 2007-08. They had topped the Group B with an unbeaten record in Bhubaneswar.
(With inputs from PTI)
