Johor Darul Ta’zim’s quest of retaining their Malaysia Cup crown continues smoothly after the Southern Tigers had mauled Kelantan FC to shreds 10-0 in Saturday’s round of 16 second leg at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium, sealing a dominant 15-1 aggregate win over the Red Warriors as a result.
Having beaten Kelantan 5-1 in the first leg back on August 4th, the second leg was meant to be a mere formality for JDT, an opportunity for the Southern Tigers to kick back and relax as they had effectively planted one foot in the quarterfinals.
But instead JDT went all out in Saturday’s match, with head coach Esteban Scolari fielding his strongest possible lineup which included debutant Takahiro Kunimoto, a new addition from Portuguese top-flight side Casa Pia.
Bergson opened the scoring in the 21st minute, before Kunimoto bagged himself a debut goal three minutes later. The two men proceeded to steal the show at the Sultan Ibrahim, with Bergson completing his hat-trick in the 43rd and 73rd minute, while Kunimoto sealed his brace in the 37th minute.
JDT’s other goals were scored by Juan Muniz in the 54th minute, Daryl Sham in the 59th minute, Heberty in the 60th minute, Arif Aiman in the 63rd minute, and Aysar Hadi in the third minute of injury time.
For Kelantan, the heavy defeat was their second in a space of a week, having succumbed to an 8-0 home defeat at the hands of Terengganu FC in the league on August 14th.