Football

Malaysia FA Cup Final: Kelantan 1-3 LionsXII

LionsXII made history by clinching their first FA Cup title after securing a massive 3-1 win over Kelantan at the Bukit Jalil Stadium.

With almost 80,000 fans packed into the stadium, the atmosphere was nothing short of stupendous, with Kelantan fans visibly dominating the chants. LionsXII though, never allowed that to get to them.

Despite Kelantan’s decent start, LionsXII opened the scoring in the first half, silencing the crowd and forcing Kelantan to up their tempo and push upfront. Fandi’s men were incredibly disciplined in their approach, keeping things short and simple, and using the pace of their wingers to execute all attacking moves.

That allowed them to protect the slender 1-0 lead, heading into the half time. After the break through, Kelantan eventually got the equalizer they were looking for. Wan Zack Haikal, who has struggled for form throughout this year, proved his mettle with a fine goal to make it 1-1.

Austin Amutu was also brought on to increase their goalscoring chances, but LionsXII eventually restored their lead on the 81st minuted as Sahil found the back of the net.

And just when Kelantan were looking to potentially mount a late comeback and drag the game into extra time, LionsXII were awarded a spot-kick, and Sahil made no mistakes by firing home to secure a 3-1 win and ultimately secure the cup for the Singaporean side.

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