Scoring goals comes naturally to Johor Darul Ta’zim FC’s Bérgson da Silva but the Brazil-born centre forward who netted the first hat-trick of the 2025/26 ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™ season insists there is no secret to his phenomenal striking prowess.
Bergson’s treble in the 4-0 win over Bangkok United FC in JDT’s Group B meeting with the Thai League 1 side in September was among the 168 goals he has scored in 164 matches in all competitions since joining the Malaysia Super League champions.
And despite his remarkable record in front of goal, the 34-year-old stresses the recipe to success is old fashioned hard work.
“All the competitions are different, with different targets,” says Bérgson. “When we have the Shopee Cup™, when we have the Malaysia Cup, the Malaysia Super League and the AFC Champions League Elite, our expectations are very high.
“As a striker, when I score goals, the people in the club always push me to score more. As a player, for me, it's never enough also. Always when I step on the pitch, I push myself to do my best. And then this is the way, this is the target and mentality I have.
“I don't have only one secret. I have a key; it's always to work more. When I score, I need to be prepared better for the next game, the next week.
“And then we have our boss (JDT owner Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim), who always pushes us to be a better player, a better person. So this is the idea, the key is the mentality.”
JDT are playing in the Shopee Cup™ for the first time and have made a strong start to the competition, picking up wins over Lion City Sailors FC and Bangkok United before being held to a surprise draw in Phnom Penh by PKR Svay Rieng FC last month.
The seven points amassed from those opening three games has Xisco Muñoz’s side sitting in second place in Group B behind Nam Định FC from Vietnam with two rounds of the opening phase of the competition to go.
With the top two finishers advancing to the semi-finals, JDT are well positioned to advance with matches against Shan United FC from Myanmar and group leaders Nam Định to come over the next four weeks.
JDT continue to dominate domestically and have a perfect record in the Malaysia Super League while the club are also in contention for a place in the knockout rounds of the AFC Champions League Elite when that competition resumes in February.
“You have a big difference between one competition to the other, but we try to focus every week,” Bérgson says of the challenges JDT face when competing on multiple fronts.
“We have a lot of staff who give us the best information and keep us ready for the game. For sure, our target is to win all the competitions, our target is to win titles for the club.
“In the AFC Champions League Elite, we have a lot of teams that are a bit far away from us but in the Shopee Cup™, they are more nearby.
“In Southeast Asia there’s a lot of challenges that we have faced before, but in the Champions League all the games are played in a different way, so we have these different experiences.”
One rivalry Bérgson and his teammates will be hoping to rekindle is against reigning Shopee Cup™ champions Buriram United FC, who eliminated the Malaysian side in the last 16 of last season’s AFC Champions League Elite.
Clashes between the clubs are among the most keenly contested in the regional game and Bérgson has one eye on gaining revenge against the Thai League 1 champions if the pair meet in the knockout rounds of the Shopee Cup™.
“We know they’re our big opponent in Asian football because they play against us a few times and they have caught us,” he says. “But we have another opportunity to create a new history, to start a new challenge, to think forward about the next games.”
JDT return to action in the Shopee Cup™ on January 29 against Shan United as Svay Rieng host Bangkok United and Nam Định take on Lion City Sailors.
A day earlier, champions Buriram United will travel to Singapore to face Group A leaders Tampines Rovers FC with BG Pathum United FC hosting DH Cebu FC and Selangor FC entertaining last season’s runners-up Công An Hà Nội FC.
Share now
