The Santosh Trophy national football championship has reached its semi-final stage, and all four teams—Punjab, Services, Karnataka, and Meghalaya have landed in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh to fight it out for the final berth.
The semi final matches in Arabian land will start at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh. In the first match, Punjab will take on Meghalaya on 1st March, with the second match to be held between Services and Karnataka at the same venue.
The third place match is set to take place at the King Fahd International Stadium, which will kick off on 4 March and the grand finale is set to take place at the same venue the next day.
MG Ramachandran, the Services’ head coach, is upbeat after arriving in Riyadh. He said, “The entire team wanted to be a part of the historic tournament.”We’ve come here to give our best performance in the knockout stage, and we’re hoping to come out on top and bring the trophy home.”
Head coach Khlain Syiemlieh of Meghalaya went on to say that every player was gearing up for the semis. Boys will get a different kind of experience.
However, head coach Harpreet Saini of Punjab claims that this tournament is a crucial step in the overall development of players’ skills. All the players are excited and ready to go with full preparation. It is time to focus on the business and nothing else.
Ravi Babu Raju, the head coach of Karnataka, believes that we are pleased to play in the Gulf nation, and it would be the first time that any Santosh Trophy match will be held on foreign soil. Therefore, in this historic moment, it’s time to concentrate only on football.