Circuit 2 Recap: Pahang's Statement Win, and a Beating for Terengganu

If Circuit 1 hinted at where the season's power lay, Circuit 2 confirmed it in some style. Pahang Rangers put nineteen goals past Wipers without reply on the opening matchday, Felipe De Souza scoring six of them, a result that remains the single highest-scoring match of the MPFL 2026 season. Rodrigo Da Silva added four goals of his own in the same game, the first sign of a strike partnership that would go on to define Pahang's campaign.

Selangor, meanwhile, continued at their own relentless pace, beating PFA Odin Sarawak 9-1 and following it with a 6-2 win over USM, Marlon and Syahir Iqbal sharing the goals across both matches. Johor Darul Ta'zim were nearly as dominant, seeing off Terengganu 5-3 before putting eight past KL City without reply on the second matchday, Andresito among the scorers in both games.

The circuit was unkind to Terengganu in particular. Having opened with defeat to JDT, they were beaten 7-0 by Pahang Rangers on the second matchday, a result that, alongside their earlier loss, offered an early sign of the defensive frailty that would recur throughout their season even as their attacking players continued to find goals elsewhere. Wipers fared little better, following their nineteen-goal battering by Pahang with a 4-7 defeat to PFA Odin Sarawak, Safiq Hamzah among the goals for the visitors on a day the hosts at least found the net four times themselves.

USM's search for their first win continued without success, a 3-5 defeat to ATM on the opening matchday followed by the heavier loss to Selangor, though Muhammad Izzat's brace against ATM offered an early sign of the attacking contribution he would go on to make later in the season.

By the end of Circuit 2, eight matchdays into the campaign, the top of the table was already beginning to take a recognisable shape, with Selangor, JDT and Pahang Rangers opening daylight on the rest of the division.