The Malaysia Under-23 head coach Ong Kim Swee wasted no time in confirming that he has called up Firdaus from the Under-18 squad to beef up his goalkeeping options after the move of Haziq Nadzli from his squad to the senior side. That after Kim Swee was present at the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh to witness Firdaus in action against Thailand.
Captain of the U19 side, Firdaus had a sterling tournament in the qualifiers where he played in three of the four group matches and kept two clean sheets in the process. While he did concede four goals in the opening match against Cambodia, two red cards suffered by Malaysia in that match did not help his cause.