Johor Darul Ta’zim’s stranglehold over the Liga Super Malaysia continues for a tenth straight year after the Southern Tigers clinched this season’s league title with a 4-0 battering of PDRM FC at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium on Wednesday.
With a win record percentage of 95% in the league coming into the match, it’s only a matter of when not if JDT will lift their tenth consecutive Liga Super title as police side PDRM rolled into the Sultan Ibrahim.
And the Cops, as many predicted, became JDT’s newest whipping boys, with Bergson finding the back of the net once again for the Southern Tigers in the 37th minute, before Juan Muniz gave Esteban Scolari’s side a two-goal cushion coming into half-time just three minutes later.
Two more goals in quick succession from Arif Aiman (54th minute) and Fernando Forestieri (57th minute) settled the match then and there for JDT, who proved to be too much for PDRM to handle.
JDT, who had already won this season’s Malaysia FA Cup, will turn their attention towards defending their Malaysia Cup title. The Southern Tigers are set to play Perak FC in the tournament’s semifinal later this month.
Kedah Darul Aman remains as the only team to have nicked a point off JDT in the league this season, but with four more matches to go and Esteban likely focusing his team’s efforts towards both their Malaysia Cup and AFC Champions League campaigns, it is more than likely that the Southern Tigers will take it easy in their remaining league matches now that the league title is set to remain in Johor Bahru for the 10th year running.
JDT’s triumph was met by numerous congratulatory messages from former players, which include Malaysia national team legend Safee Sali, former captain and current Lion City Sailors skipper Hariss Harun, Singapore national team icon Baihakki Khaizan, and Dewa United’s Junior Eldstal among others.