12 years on from a remarkable revival that sent them into the ASEAN Championship final, Malaysia will be hoping history repeats itself.
Harimau Malaya visit Hanoi's Mỹ Đình National Stadium on Wednesday with a mountain to climb in their semifinal second leg at the 2026 edition of Southeast Asian football's premier international competition -- trailing Vietnam on aggregate following a 2-0 loss in the opening encounter in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
The Malaysians already entered the tie as underdogs against the reigning champions given they are far from at their strongest at the tournament, and it now looks as though they will need a minor miracle to advance to the decider.
But back in 2014, Malaysia also found themselves in a similar situation after losing to Vietnam at home in the first leg of the semis - only to head to Hanoi and pull off a remarkable 4-2 victory -- where they were even leading 3-1 after just 29 minutes -- to advance to the final 5-4 on aggregate.
Current Malaysia interim coach Tan Cheng Hoe is the first to acknowledge that like-for-like comparisons are unwise. That iteration of Harimau Malaya boasted icons such as Safiq Rahim, Safee Sali and Norshahrul Idlan Talaha at the peak of their powers, while his youthful squad started the tournament with just four players with over 20 caps to their names.
Still, he hopes that heroic display from 12 years ago can provide some sort of inspiration as Harimau Malaya look to pull off something remarkable -- a first win over Vietnam since that 2014 triumph that has been followed by 11 losses and a draw since, including one victory that was overturned after they fielded players who were later found guilty of using falsified documents to gain citizenship in order to represent Malaysia.
"Regarding that 2014 result under coach Dollah Salleh, he [pulled off] a fantastic result," Tan said, in Tuesday's pre-match news conference.
"He changed the situation. In the first leg, Malaysia were down 2-1 and coming here to beat Vietnam 4-2 was a very good result.
"Definitely, that result gives us the confidence. At the same time totally, after 12 years, the players and coaches have kept of changing. This is something that gives us the motivation.
"We know the record Malaysia have against Vietnam -- it's always favoured Vietnam. In football, sometimes you have to go onto the pitch with the belief that you can change the result.
"Of course, we still respect Vietnam, especially given they have a very good track record under coach Kim Kang-Sik. He's now unbeaten for over 20 matches. With all these statistics and records, we still have to be motivated.
"At the same time, we are not under much pressure because of the situation. We'd like to enjoy this moment, especially playing in the semifinal with the second match away from home.
"We cannot look too much into the past record. We have to challenge it to get a positive result."
Tan is also heartened by the performance his players produced in the first leg, where they actually enjoyed more possession than Vietnam and could even have scored a couple of goals with more precise finishing.
"We know always Vietnam have given me a tough time but I'm still proud of my players," Tan said. "We really gave a challenge that Vietnam had to defend rather than attack against us.
"This really gave me the positive that our players were really focused for every moment. We attacked and we probably could have scored some goals.
"in football, everything is possible -- if you really have the confidence and belief and, most importantly, the players have to go together and win together.
"It's no secret that in football the better team wins. Sometimes it happens that, if you have the right moment and the right timing, you can beat any team."