Failure to pick up all three points meant the end of the road for the World Cup for Malaysia after a promising start to the qualifying campaign.
Malaysia huffed and puffed against Vietnam in the penultimate Group G match of the joint 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup qualification match but ultimately suffered again against their bogey side in recent times to bow out of contention for a place in the next round of the qualifiers.
Comparatively, it was a much higher energy performance and output from Tan Cheng Hoe's boys than what was seen during the United Arab Emirates (UAE) match but still it wasn't enough to overcome a resolute Vietnam side who adopted a far more cautious approach in the game than what they showed against Indonesia.