The place was taken by interim coach Ong Kim Swee who was later promoted as the head coach until the end of March 2017. The official coaching post then was taken over by Portuguese coach Nelo Vingada in the hopes of raising the Malaysian football performances. On 13 June, Malaysia played their first match in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification against Lebanon. Despite having a 1–0 lead during the first half, they eventually lost the match with a score 1–2. Malaysia's poor performance however, continued. Despite given high hopes and expectations from the match against Hong Kong, Malaysia only managed a 1–1 draw, before losing to the same team 0–2 in Hong Kong. As for the result, frustration happened in the team and Malaysia suffered two consecutive defeats against North Korea, with both matches ended 1–4. Malaysia also lost the second final match against Lebanon in Beirut by 1–2. With only 1 draw and 5 defeats, Malaysia was subsequently eliminated from the qualification. The coaching position was taken over by the team assistant coach Tan Cheng Hoe in late 2017 after Vingada stepped down following a string of poor results. After failure to qualify for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, Malaysia proceeded its journey in the 2018 AFF Championship and was grouped with rival Vietnam together with Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. Malaysia won the second place with three wins and only one loss against Vietnam. By qualifying as group runners-up, Malaysia faced Thailand, the fierce rival in their long-time head-to-head records as well the reigning champions in the tournament, where they were able to overcome the latter by holding them 2–2 in Thailand's home stadium of Bangkok, winning the match by away goals rule in one of the tournament's greatest shock despite being tied 0–0 earlier at home. In the finals, they met Vietnam again and held the latter 2–2 at home before losing 0–1 in Vietnam's home ground of Hanoi, subsequently finishing the tournament with an aggregate of 2–3 as the runners-up for the third time in their AFF Cup history. Despite being unable to achieve the AFF Cup the second time, the enhancing performance of Malaysia was seen with the emergence of new talents coming from its youth football development which brought a hope in future. Malaysia participated in 2022 World Cup campaign from the first round due to poor record previously, but with its first opponent