On Wednesday, Goa did what they had to but other results didn’t go in their favor and they crashed out in the group stage of the 72nd Santosh Trophy. Armando Colaco’s men thrashed Punjab 4-1 at the Howrah Stadium, but couldn’t qualify from Group B after Karnataka edged Mizoram. Goa finished third with six points and will rue the two losses in their first two matches against Mizoram and Karnataka. Punjab ended fourth with six points.

Earlier in the match, Mackroy Peixoto (25th)struck from the spot-kick while Victorino Fernandes doubled the lead three minutes later. Nestor Dias (59th) and Shubert Pereira (67th) completed the tally for Goa, before Punjab’s Gurtej Singh (90+4th) scored a consolation goal to reduce the margin. Karnataka scrambled past Mizoram 1-0 at the Mohun Bagan ground to top Group B and set up a semifinal date with hosts and defending champions Bengal. Both Karnataka and Mizoram finished their group engagements with nine points, but the former topped the table courtesy head-to-head advantage.

With Goa and Punjab, who crashed out after finishing with six points each and also in contention as they faced off in the day’s other match, Karnataka knew that a loss to Mizoram could jeopardize their progress to the last-four stage. Karnataka got the all-important goal when S Rajesh scored a lucky goal in the 74th minute.