Santosh Trophy
By Our Reporter
Shillong, Jan 31: Meghalaya will have to wait until Sunday morning to know whether they will progress to the quarterfinals of the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy 2025-26 after their last Group B match ended 2-2 against Railways in Silapathar, Assam, on Saturday. This was Meghalaya’s third draw in the last four games.
What they will have to wait for is the match between Services and Kerala, which was postponed to Sunday morning. Only the top four sides from each group will progress to the knockouts and a win for Services by any margin will put them through and drop Meghalaya out of the running. Currently Meghalaya are fourth on 6 points, while Services have 3. The latter, however, have a better goal difference (-1 to -2). Services have yet to win a match but Kerala may choose to rest their strongest players as they are already confirmed in first place in Group B.
In other match, Punjab defeated bottom side Odisha 5-2 to leapfrog Meghalaya into third place.
The game against Railways was a treat for any football fan, with both sides in the lead at different points of the game. Meghalaya conceded first with an unlucky own goal (65’), equalised through Apborlang Kurbah (66’) and then took the lead via Mebankhraw Wahlang (73’). However, Railways were able to level after that thanks to Johnson Joseph Mathews (75’) and they held on for a point, which was enough to send them through to the quarters, along with Punjab and Kerala.
Meghalaya coach Khlain Pyrkhat Syiemlieh made five changes to the starting line-up from the loss against Kerala two days ago. Banshanskhem Kharsyntiew got his first opportunity in goal in the final round, taking the place of Rajat Paul Lyngdoh. Dibormi Kassar, Babysunday Marngar and Dawanchwa C Challam all made a return to the first XI.
The biggest addition was Hardy Cliff Nongbri, who made his return to the state team after finishing with his club duties for Nongkseh. He had not had any real time to train with his Meghalaya team mates since the end of the preliminary round in December but Syiemlieh felt that his experience, leadership abilities and skill in the midfield was important to have in the team.
The other players replaced were Fairming Suting, Mebanshngain Kurkalang, Robertson Khongriah and Marbiangki Suchiang.
Before the defeat to Kerala, Meghalaya had held Services to a draw, drew with Punjab on 24 January and beat Odisha in their opener on 22 January.
