Johor Darul Ta’zim win 7-2 at Penang FC in the Malaysia FA Cup quarter-final

Johor Darul Ta’zim won the first leg of their Malaysia FA Cup quarter-final 7-2 away at Penang FC on 20 September.

Nine goals in George Town

The visitors were two ahead at the interval, the second of them a Brad Tapp finish just before the break. Guilherme added the third soon after the restart, and Shahab got the fifth.

Enzo Celestine headed one of the two goals the hosts did manage.

A quarter-final is decided over two legs, so nothing is formally settled. In practice the arithmetic is unforgiving: Penang FC would need to find five clear goals in the return simply to draw level on aggregate.

What the league table says about the two

Johor Darul Ta’zim lead the Malaysia Super League with 15 points from 5 matches, 5 wins out of 5, and they have not conceded a league goal all season. They have scored 25 in a table of 12 clubs. Their most recent league outing was a 3-0 home win over Negeri Sembilan FC on Matchday 4.

Penang FC are 9th of those 12, on 4 points from 4 matches, with 3 goals scored and 5 conceded, 11 points behind the leaders. They did beat Kelantan Red Warrior FC 3-2 at home on Matchday 4, so the league season is not yet the story this scoreline suggests.

What comes next

The second leg settles the quarter-final. The two also meet in the Malaysia Super League on 13 December, when Penang FC host Johor Darul Ta’zim again on Matchday 10.

Selangor FC visited Star City FC in another quarter-final first leg.

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