The sport’s governing body emphasized that the loss to Vietnam marked a turning point for the team moving forward.

“Malaysia may not have yet made a major impact at global level, but the nation’s passion for football off the field is world class. Kuala Lumpur’s cavernous near-90,000 capacity Bukit Jalil National Stadium is one of football’s great sights, with its relentless noise and colour matching up well to most venues around the world. Malaysia’s home venue was filled to the brim on three occasions within a matter of weeks late last year to support Harimau Malaya (Malayan Tigers) during the AFF Championship,” FIFA wrote on its website.

“Now the nation’s enormous supporter base is being rewarded with results on the field. Malaysia came within touching distance of their second AFF Championship title only to narrowly miss regaining their Southeast Asian crown, suffering a 3-2 aggregate defeat against Vietnam in the decider,” FIFA noted.

“More recently, Harimau Malaya thrashed Timor-Leste with a resounding 12-2 aggregate scoreline to win through to Round 2 of AFC’s FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ qualifying campaign.”

“There has been recognition, too, via the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. Malaysia have recently moved up to 159th to reach a five-year high, and are now closing in on their best position for over a decade. Malaysia’s strong form helped push them into Pot 4 ahead of the AFC Round 2 World Cup draw last month. The draw remarkably pulled out a quartet of Southeast Asian nations, leaving Malaysia to face Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, as well as Asian Cup semi-finalists United Arab Emirates,” said FIFA.

Vietnam will take on Malaysia on October 10 at Hanoi’s My Dinh stadium. This promises to be an exciting match as coach Tan Cheng Hoe’s team lost 0-1 to Vietnam in the second leg final match of the AFF Cup 2018.