In the first semi-final on Friday, Maharashtra, the Group II winners, will meet Goa while on Saturday, defending champions Bengal will meet Punjab in the second semi-final.

Goa got the first goal in the 36th minute with the wily Bruno Coutinho keeping his flag-kick just right for Francis Silviers to collect his third goal of the tournament. A neat header which went past Punjab goalkeeper Baljit Singh without any problems. The 63rd minute saw a lucky goal help Punjab draw parity. Rajesh Kumar's header hit Goa defender Lawrence Gonsalves and went to Punjab forward Prasanta Das. The striker scored, bringing the spectators on their feet.

Three minutes later, a beautifulpiece of work by Dalip Kumar on the right found Ramesh Kumar scoring the second for Punjab. Kumar dribbled down the right and flicked the ball back to the goalmouth. Ramesh Kumar came sliding to score. Youngster Cyril Barreto got the equaliser just five minutes after Punjab had moved ahead. Jules Alberto crossed to Barreto from the left and the young mid-fielder scored into an open goal.

Assam win: The first goal for Assam came with the rain. As the shower was just building up around the 52nd minute, Nathan Chullai kept a well directed cross from the right, inside the Services box. Kulen Basumatary headed home in a melee.

Ironically, the second goal was scored when the rain was letting up. Ramesh Bodo ran down the left flank to send a cross for Nabajyoti Talukdar to score.

The mid-fielder placed it at the top of the box for Dipen Teron, who had replaced Basumatary after the first goal. Teron's uppish 20-yarder entered the net to the left of the goalie, in the 20th minute.