ISKANDAR PUTERI - Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) lived up to their top billing by convincingly beating Negeri Sembilan 4-1 in their Malaysia Cup second leg quarterfinal at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium, here last night to book their slot in the semifinals.
JDT who lost 0-1 to Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale in an AFC Champions League match on Tuesday, took out their frustration on Negeri Sembilan who were unfortunately on the receiving end.
In fact, from the time of arrival in Johor, Negeri Sembilan knew that they were facing an uphill task to overturn a three-goal deficit because they lost their first leg quarterfinal match 0-3 in Paroi, Seremban last week.
Brazilian Bergson Gustavo Silveira Da Silva opened accounts for JDT as early as the sixth minute and added his second of the night to stretch JDT’s advantage five minutes later while Juan Muniz Gallego made it 3-0 in the 29th minute.
Bergson Da Silva had several opportunities to complete his hattrick but failed, and that allowed Negeri Sembilan to pull a goal back through defender Mohamad Zamri Pin Ramli’s powerful strike in the 39th minute.
With the outcome of the match already decided, JDT seemed to have taken their foot off the accelerator in the second half because the pace of the match seemingly dropped significantly compared to the first half.
However, Fernando Martin Forestieri who joined the squad after recovering from an injury, showed that he has still not lost his killer touch when he struck JDT’s fourth goal well into injury time after 90 minutes of regulation play had ended. - BERNAMA