Malaysia's Under-23 squad has confirmed its place in the final round of the U23 Asian Cup which will be held in Uzbekistan, next year.
Brad Maloney's squad emerged Group J champions after finishing the last qualifying match with a goalless draw against Thailand.
With one point, Malaysia managed to collect seven points besides maintaining an unbeaten record in the three matches played during the qualifying campaign in Mongolia.
At the action at the MFF Stadium, the game was balanced when the national squad managed to prevent Thailand from dominating the game. They also pressured the Thai defense in the first half.
Unfortunately, despite several shots by Malaysia all attempts failed to find the target during the first 45 minutes.
In the second half, Thailand seemed to be more aggressive, launching several attacks but were unable to break the national defense line which played with calm and full of discipline.
Thailand were lucky when Harith Haiqal's header started from a corner kick in the 62nd minute hit the crossbar before Nik Akif Syahiran's Nik Mat follow-up effort was saved by their players.
The remaining 10 minutes were full of excitement when theThai squad continued to press for the much-needed goal but it remained 0-0 as the final whistle was blown.
For the record, Malaysia qualified for the first time to the finals of the 2018 B-23 Asian Cup in China also as Group H champions and advanced to the quarterfinals before losing 2-1 at the hands of South Korea.
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