Malaysia’s Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT), Indonesia’s Persija Jakarta, Vietnam’s Song Lam Nghe An and Singapore’s Tampines Rovers will be drawn in the “Group of Death” in 2018 AFC Cup.
The 2015 AFC Cup champions JDT have been one of the favorites from the ASEAN zone to get through to zonal final.
This could be their last run for JDT in the tournament as the Malaysian club will feature automatically in the AFC Champions League for the 2019 season
“For the group stage, I have to stress that the matches will be anything but easy because all the other teams in the group have high hopes and will also be playing to advance to the next stage,” assistant coach, Ismail Ibrahim said after the draw on Wednesday, as quoted by The News Straits Times.
“We will be playing Persija Jakarta and Song Lam Nghe An for the very first time, so we need to be as best prepared as possible because we do not know much about these two teams as compared to Tampines Rovers who we have faced in the group stage before.
“With next year’s campaign being our last in the AFC Cup after Malaysia gained one automatic slot for the ACL come the 2019 season, of course we want to give it our very best.
