Putting aside what could possibly happen in the future, this was undeniably Malaysia's best opportunity to beat a team 94 places above them in the Fifa rankings in United Arab Emirates (UAE). Harimau Malaya started like a train on fire and managed to get into the lead within a minute but should really have stamped their dominance with a few more goals.
Chances continued to flow for Tan Cheng Hoe's team after Syafiq Ahmad had put the home side ahead but in the end, only had one goal to show from a very strong first 25 minutes in the match.