Johor Darul Ta’Zim take triple champions in season first time in history of the club after beated Selangor FC with a score of 2-1 in the TM Piala Malaysia 2022 Final at Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur.
In the final action, Selangor coached by Tan Cheng Hoe made two changes in the starting eleven by risking Baha Abdelrahman and Richmond Ankrah to replace Nor Hakim Hassan and Yazan Al Arab who had to be sidelined following receiving a red card in the second semi-final previously.
Meanwhile, JDT did not make any changes when maintaining the main squad led by sensational young star Arif Aiman Hanapi and his poisonous striker, Bergson da Silva.
Playing in front of 79,988 fans, Selangor looked more dangerous as early as the second minute when Mukahiri Ajmal fired a solid shot but it soared high.
Seven minutes later, Herlison Caion squandered a golden opportunity when his cross was a little off the mark even though he was only facing one on one with Farizal Marlias who was already defeated.
Merah Kuning fans continued to be disappointed when Hein Htet Aung’s attempt in the 16th minute was successfully blocked by the opponent’s defense, before Caion’s header in the 31st minute also went wide after welcoming Mukahiri’s free kick.
However, Matthew Davies’ mistake of pulling Caion in the penalty box saw the referee, Muhammad Nazmi Nasaruddin not hesitate to award a penalty kick.
Caion awang imported from Brazil had no problem beating Farizal in the 45th minute to put his team in the lead.
However, JDT clearly did not want to end the first half with a deficit when it only took two minutes to tie the game through Bergson’s header after taking advantage of Davies’ corner kick.
Lively action continued to be shown by both teams in the second half, but the squad managed by Hector Bidoglio was sharper when Selangor took the lead thanks to a beautiful effort by Fernando Forestieri in the 60th minute.
Cheng Hoe made four changes at the front when he put in new ‘engines’ Hakim Hassan, Aliff Haiqal, Syahir Bashah and Ahmad Danial Asri to hunt for the equaliser.
But that strategy did not bear fruit when JDT continued to dominate the action until the last minute to see the Malaysia Cup trophy paraded to the south of the country for the third time the club.
Credit Photo : Jayden Seah/SNE Images
