Over the moon: Nazmi Faiz Mansor celebrating with Fernando Forestieri after scoring against Perak. — JDT
PETALING JAYA: Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) will be leaving to South Korea for their AFC Champions League in high spirits.
The Southern Tigers showed they were shaping up well after mauling Perak 4-1 in the Malaysia Cup semi-finals first leg at the Perak Stadium in Ipoh on Thursday and are one foot in the final with the comfortable win.
JDT’s goals were scored by Spanish wingback Oscar Arribas (seventh minute), winger Arif Aiman Hanapi (12th), centreback Shahrul Saad (71st) and midfielder Nazmi Faiz Mansor (79th).
Perak’s only goal was netted by their captain and Argentine midfielder Luciano Guaycochea.
The second leg of the Malaysia Cup will be held on Nov 2 but first, they will take on Ulsan Hyundai in their Group I game at the Munsu Football Stadium on Tuesday.
It will be tough for JDT as Ulsan Hyundai are the Korean League defending champions and are powered by top players like Georgian international Valeri Qazaishvili and striker Joo Min-kyu.
Malaysia have beaten BG Pathum United 3-2 in their last group game in Bangkok and JDT coach Esteban Solari hopes they can continue their fine form.
“The win against Perak was important for us as it put us back on the winning mode and one step close to the Malaysia Cup final,” said Solari.
“After beating Pathum United, we had the FIFA international period, where most of our players were involved with national duty.
“Now, we will be facing tougher opponents in South Korea and the expectation for the game is high.
“It will be a hard game but I believe in our chances. We beat Pathum, so there is the confidence in the team.
“We respect Ulsan because they are the reigning champions of their league but we will play a good game and try to take points from them. We want to get to the last 16.”
On the game against Perak, Solari praised strikers Fernando Forestieri of Argentina and Brazilians Heberty Fernandes and Bergson Da Silva.
“It is the first time that Fernando, Heberty and Bergson have played together as I wanted to see how it would pan out,” said Solari.
“The three of them put in a lot of effort, and even did their defensive duties by pressing up high.
“These are players with big qualities and we will look forward to seeing more of them in the future.”
