Everything was going swimmingly well from a Malaysian perspective in the preliminary first round of the joint 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup qualification double header against Timor Leste. Goals were plenty and the matches were played in good spirits with Malaysia reaching the second round of the qualification on a 12-2 aggregate score.
But at full time with the Malaysian team celebrating at the bench, a bright red flare was sparked into life in the crowd and a large smoke began to engulf one section of Bukit Jalil National Stadium. An incident bersmirching what was a good success achieved by Tan Cheng Hoe and his team.