It was the outcome which ticked a lot of boxes for the Tan Cheng Hoe and the Malaysia national team. A win and a clean sheet achieved against a Tajikistan side that sits much higher than Malaysia in the FIFA rankings puts Harimau Malaya in good stead heading into the home double header in the next 10 days.
Six changes were made to the starting eleven compared to the one that took to the field in at My Dinh Stadium last month with Khairulazhan Khalid, Baddrol Bakhtiar, Nor Azam Azih, Syamer Kutty Abba, Syahmi Safari and Akhyar Rashid all given a chance to prove themselves worthy of a place in the squad.