THE 2018 MALAYSIA CUP DRAW

The draw for the 2018 Malaysia Cup competition took place today with the sixteen teams qualified for the tournament were divided into four groups.

Group A saw Super League runners-up, Perak were drawn with fellow Super League sides Terengganu, Kuala Lumpur and Premier League side, Felcra.

In Group B, PKNS will have Melaka United, Premier League champions Felda United and the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) as company.

Super League champions, Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) were drawn into Group C and are favourites to progress with another slot would be fought between Kedah, Kelantan and MIFA.

Meanwhile FA Cup winners, Pahang, Selangor, PKNP and Premier League side Sabah were drawn together in Group D.

The competition will begin on 4 August.

DEFEAT FOR TERENGGANU & PAHANG ALLOW PERAK TO FINISH AS SUPER LEAGUE RUNNER-UP

Terengganu and Pahang failed to take advantage of Perak defeat to PKNS last night to grab the runners-up spot in the Super League when they lost their last match against Selangor and Kelantan respectively.

The 4-1 defeat suffered by Mehmet Durakovic's side in Shah Alam left them with 36 points and the two East Coast side, both on 34 points going into tonight's match only needed to win to emerge as runners-up to Johor Darul Ta'zim and a possible place in next season Asian competition.

However The Turtles missing two of their influential players, Lee Tuck and Thierry Bin in their midfield failed to rise to the occasion and lost 2-0 to Selangor, which literally had nothing to play for except pride.

Meanwhile The Elephants succumbed 2-1 in Kota Bahru to a Kelantan side looking to confirm their place in this season Malaysia Cup competition with a win following Negeri Sembilan defeat to Melaka United last night.

The defeat saw Pahang and Terengganu remained in fourth and fifth place respectively with PKNS surprising everyone by finishing third behind Perak.

IT'S FIVE IN A ROW FOR JDT

Johor Darul Ta’zim secured their fifth successive Super League title after winning their match against Perak in Ipoh last night. 

Photo courtesy of: Asiana.my

Second placed Perak seemed to have denied The Southern Tigers from doing that when they took the lead in the 72nd minute through Norhakim Hassan.

The former Terengganu forward good first touch took the ball under his control from a pass by Wander Luiz before unleashing a stiff shot past Farizal Marlias.

However, the visitors pulled level through Singaporean midfielder, Hariss Harun three minutes later when he stole in front of the Perak defence to head home the ball from a free-kick.

Then seven minutes from time Safawi Rashid headed home the winner after a good run on the left by Gonzalo Cabrera before the Argentine delivered a perfect cross into the penalty box.

TERENGGANU MOVED TO THIRD AFTER 3-1 WIN OVER KL

Terengganu jumped into third place, a point behind The Bos Gaurus after registering a 3-1 win over Kuala Lumpur in Kuala Terengganu.

The Turtles who were expected to collect all three points from this match based on The City Boys poor record on the road however were shocked when Guilherme De Paula headed the visitors into the lead in the 33rd minute.

The Brazillian kept up his good goalscoring record against Terengganu by heading the ball past a stranded Suffian Rahman from a free-kick by Paulo Josue, aided by the misjudgment of Igor Zonjic who was trying to head the ball but completely missing it.

It seemed for a while that Kuala Lumpur could be doing a double over Terengganu with their former goalkeeper, Sharbinee Allawee was once again in a good form.

Then in the 38th minute Terengganu were level when Abdul Malik Ariff touched the ball home after a good delivery by full-back, Hafizal Mohamad from the right. It was the former Kuantan player first competitive goal for Terengganu.

The Turtles started the second half brightly by forcing a free-kick at the edge of the Kuala Lumpur penalty box but Do Dong-Hyun missed the goal by just a whisker.

Then in the 53rd minute Terengganu took the lead for the first time in the match when Zonjic made up for his first half error by heading home a corner kick by Lee Tuck.

The home side confirmed all the three points by snatching the winner in added time at the end of the ninety minutes when their skipper, Tchétché Kipré’s low delivery across the goal was turned in by substitute, Abdul Latiff Suhaimi.

MELAKA COMPLETED LEAGUE DOUBLE OVER KEDAH

Meanwhile at the Hang Jebat Stadium, Melaka completed their league double over Kedah by winning their encounter with a 4-1 scoreline. They have earlier recorded a 2-0 win over The Red Eagles in Alor Setar in early June.

Khair Jones and Gopinathan Ramachandra gave the home side a 2-0 lead at the interval before Kedah pulled one back through a penalty by striker, Paolo Rangel in the 53rd minute.

However, Melaka continued to dominate and Gopinathan scored his second of the night in the 62nd minute before Ifedayo Omosuyi scored five minutes before time to complete the rout over the visitors.