Johor Darul Ta’zim kept their hopes for a domestic treble alive after they had thoroughly dismantled Kelantan FC 5-0 in Friday’s 2022 Malaysia Cup quarterfinal second leg at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium. Having already won 3-0 in the first leg, the massive 8-0 aggregate win sent JDT through to the semifinal, where they will face-off against Sabah FC.
Bergson was once again JDT’s star man on Friday as he bagged himself a hat-trick. The Brazilian opened the scoring for the Southern Tigers in the 12th minute, before adding more to his tally in the 34th minute and finishing his trifecta of goals in the 37th minute.
Syahmi Safari then made it 4-0 for the hosts in the 40th minute before Nazmi Faiz completed the demolition job in the second minute of stoppage time, thus allowing JDT to simply sit back, relax, and defend their lead throughout the second half.
There will be no time to rest for JDT, however, as they will host Liga 1 Indonesia side Persis Solo in a friendly match on Saturday before the first leg of their semifinal on November 15th, with players from the JDT II squad combined with first-teamers not featured in the Kelantan rout being expected to take the field against the Laskar Sambernyawa at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium.
Sabah, on the other hand, had a less-than-straightforward route to the final four.
Holding a slim 1-0 lead over Borneo rivals Kuching City FC from the first leg, Sabah were made to sweat over their advantage by a feisty Il Gatto side at the Likas Stadium in Kota Kinabalu, with only the heroics from the Rhinos’ goalkeeper Damien Lim keeping them alive in the tie. Sabah were then stunned in the 82nd minute after Ummareng Bacok scored an own-goal, allowing Kuching City to draw the tie 1-1 on aggregate and forcing extra-time.
Luckily for Ong Swee Kim’s men, they had Saddil Ramdani and Taiki Kagayama to thank, as four minutes into extra time Indonesia international Saddil – on his return from injury – sent the perfect ball towards Japanese attacker Kagayama, who simply headed the ball into the Kuching City goal, thus sealing the Rhinos’ semifinal ticket.
Saturday’s quarterfinal match will saw Selangor FC defending a 2-0 lead as they travelled to Negeri Sembilan FC, while defending Malaysia Cup champions Kuala Lumpur City FC are facing a tough job of keeping their title defense alive as they pay Terengganu FC a visit, with the Turtles holding a 1-0 advantage from the first leg.