Shillong, Dec 22: Meghalaya fans are hoping for a present from the state football team in the form of victory against Arunachal Pradesh in the last Group E game of the Senior Men’s National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy 2025-26. Kick-off for Tuesday’s fixture will be at 4pm and tickets will be on sale at the venue.
Meghalaya are currently bottom of the group but know exactly what they must do in order to rise to the top. As only one team from each group will progress to the final round, the home team have it all to do.
On Sunday Arunachal pipped Sikkim 1-0 but two days before that Sikkim had come from a goal down to win 2-1 against Meghalaya. A win on Tuesday for Meghalaya would put all three sides on 3 points each and goal difference would then come into play. A simple 1-0 victory alone will not be enough, however – Meghalaya will have to score at least two goals to reach the top of Group E. Arunachal, meanwhile, will just need a draw to progress.
Although not involved on Sunday, Meghalaya kept their eyes firmly on the Sikkim-Arunachal match and had their fingers crossed. Ideally, the hosts needed Arunachal to win but not by too large a margin – in the end that is exactly what happened, with Rinchin D Karma giving Arunachal a 1-0 win. Victory for Sikkim or even a draw would have sent Meghalaya out.
The fans were brilliant on Friday, with a good number turning out to support the state team against Sikkim and they will be needed again on Tuesday to cheer on the home side. Meghalaya largely dominated the game against Sikkim but the players, while individually excellent, did not quite gel together, which is understandable given that they have been drawn from numerous different clubs and have had a short amount of preparation time for the Santosh Trophy.
A few days between matches should have given them the necessary time to fine-tune this issue and they will look to use the lifeline they have been given to try and win by a big enough margin versus Arunachal in order to reward the fans for their support and to go through to next month’s final round, which will take place in Assam.
