The good news keep coming for the Malaysia national team.
After a good month where they won three out of three matches played in the month of November, the wins over Tajikistan (1-0), Thailand (2-1) and Indonesia (2-0) have earned the team sufficient points to go from 158 in October's FIFA rankings to 154.
The wins gave Malaysia a vital 31 points bump compared to the previous month and now are only 12 points behind Afghanistan who are in 153rd place. That puts Harimau Malaya as the fifth best Southeast Asian side with Vietnam (94), Thailand (113), Philippines (124) and Myanmar (136) ahead of them.
Those set of result have also propelled Tan Cheng Hoe's boys up to second place in Group G of the joint 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup qualification. If Malaysia should finish the campaign where they are, it would mean that they have already earned a spot in the 2023 Asian Cup in China.
While that remains lofty targets, continuing to climb up the ladder could also play a crucial part if Malaysia does not finish in the top two spots in the group. As that would give them a better seeding when the new draw is done for the Asian Cup qualification campaign.
It is now a couple of months break before the next match where Malaysia will travel to play United Arab Emirates before welcoming Vietnam to Kuala Lumpur in March.
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