Santosh Trophy: Karnataka bring it home after 54 years
Vinayak Padmadeo
Riyadh, March 4
In the end, both sets of players hit the turf of the King Fahd Stadium after the referee blew the final whistle to signal the end of an engrossing final of the Hero Santosh Trophy. Karnataka did that to savour the moment as 3-2 victors after ending a 54-year-old wait to lift the biggest trophy in senior national football. The sprightly Meghalaya too hit the turf as it dawned upon them that after making it to their maiden final, they had failed to take the trophy back home.
Before a customary free-kick by Robin Yadav flew past Meghalaya goalkeeper Rajat Paul Lyngdoh in the 44th minute to hand Karnataka a 3-1 advantage, Meghalaya had been doing all the running. It had been drilled into Khlain Syiemlieh’s team to not lose focus even after conceding a goal, and they did make a fight of it. But three goals in the first half proved too much for the young team to cope with.
After conceding early again – Karnataka’s right-back M Sunil Kumar’s first-time strike took a deflection and rolled past Rajat in the second minute of the match – Meghalaya equalised. Sheen Stevenson was body-checked by Nikhil G and Brolington Warlarpih scored from the resulting penalty to make it 1-1 by the seventh minute.
Karnataka regained the lead in the 19th minute when Sunil brought down a cross and squared to Bekey Oram for a simple tap-in.
Yadav’s goal was a body blow for the team led by Fullmoon Mukhim that had the entire state glued to the TV, waiting for their maiden Santosh Trophy triumph. Meghalaya did reduce the deficit when Sheen found the corner with a neat finish in the 60th minute. However, Karnataka stifled the run of play with professional fouls as well as play-acting to disrupt play.
In the day’s earlier match, Services outplayed Punjab 2-0 to finish third. Services took an early lead when PR Shafeel’s long-range effort found the net. The result was sealed by another long-range strike in the 60th minute by P Christopher Kamei.
