Football

JDT and KL City reach Malaysia Cup final

KUALA LUMPUR: And now there are two after the dust of the Malaysia Cup semi-final second legs settled last night.

Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) will face KL City in the final at the National Stadium on Tuesday.

The Southern Tigers overpowered Terengganu 3-0 for a 4-1 aggregate win at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium.

While JDT had it easy, KL City scraped past Melaka United on penalty kicks at Hang Jebat Stadium in a gripping match that went well past midnight.

The second leg had ended 1-1 for a 2-2 aggregate. Bojan Hodak's boys were the ones who finally got through, winning 5-3 on penalties.

For Terengganu, it was all over in 15 minutes when JDT blasted in

three goals: through Bergson da Silva (seventh minute and 14th) and Gonzalo Cabrera (11th).

The Turtles, who conceded an away goal for JDT in the first leg, had talked about getting an early goal last night.

That never happened. Instead it was JDT who hit them early.

Even when JDT were reduced to 10 men in the 16th minute after midfielder Safiq Rahim was sent off for head-butting Faisal Halim, it did little to lessen the Southern Tigers' ferocity.

Meanwhile, Melaka's hopes literally disappeared into the darkness at the Hang Jebat Stadium.

The 9pm game could only finally kick off at 10:10pm after an electrical problem caused the floodlights to fail, plunging the stadium into near darkness.

KL City, who needed an early goal (after drawing the first leg 1-1), went for it and got it in the ninth minute through J. Partiban, who finished off a goal attempt by Akram Mahinan.

Melaka fought hard for the equaliser, and were rewarded in the 65th minute through Ahmad Syamim Yahya, and this forced the game into extra time.

Extra time saw both teams being extra cautious and nobody gave away any goals.

In the penalty shootout, KL survived, thanks to captain Paulo Josue, Romel Morales, Indra Putra Mahayuddin, Hadin Azman and Giancarlo Gallifuoco.

RESULTS

Semi-final second leg

JDT 3 TERENGGANU 0

(JDT won 4-1 on aggregate)

MELAKA UTD 1 KL CITY 1

(Both teams tied at 2-2 on aggregate; KL City won 5-3 on penalties)

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