AS plaudits rained on the national team after a well-deserved Asian Cup qualifying win over Turkmenistan on Wednesday, one player stood out more than most at the National Stadium.
Arif Aiman Hanapi belied his 20 years to display a level of maturity that is so rare for someone so young among Malaysian footballers.
The winger was a composed presence on the right flank, making himself available for every pass and linking up well with his co-attackers Darren Lok, Faisal Halim and Safawi Rasid in charting the 3-1 win in the opening Group E match.
The win set a new national team record of seven straight home wins since 2019, breaking a tie with the 1975 Merdeka Tournament team of Jalil Che Din and K. Rajagobal's 2010-11 side that won the AFF Cup.
Malaysia's first two goals both came through Arif - the first of a conventional nature, albeit with a stroke of luck after the Turkmenistan goalkeeper spilled his cross for Safawi to slide home and the second after he nicked the ball off a dawdling Turkmenistan defender to lay it off for Faisal to smash in.
While Faisal was named Man of the Match, the path to goal nearly always went through Arif. Such was his influence, even goalkeeper Farizal Marlias looked for the Johor Darul Ta'zim winger from his goal kicks.
Making his 12th appearance for Malaysia, Arif's maturing game is the principal reason he has started in three of the five matches national coach Kim Pan Gon has been in charge.
His penetrating runs and ability to bamboozle defences, as the Turkmenistan defenders discovered to their cost, is why he remained with the senior team and did not travel to Uzbekistan for the Under-23 Asian Cup. How Brad Maloney, the national youth coach, wished he had Arif with him.
If there is one thing missing from Arif's all-around display, it is an international goal but that will surely come soon with Malaysia facing Bahrain and Bangladesh in their next two matches.
Given the results in the other five qualifying groups, a draw against Bahrain tomorrow would be enough for Malaysia to get through to the Asian Cup, provided they do the business against Bangladesh on Tuesday.
Arif aside, the national team showcased better organisational ability, movement and attacking instincts as Pan Gon made good on his pre-match declaration of wanting to dominate Turkmenistan.
Two goals in the first 16 minutes had Turkmenistan, ranked 20 places higher in the Fifa rankings at 134th, going from a back-three to a more conventional back-four in trying to stop Arif from finding spaces behind the defence.
Former national defender Shahrom Kalam said the team are playing with a different mentality under Pan Gon, as demonstrated by Dion Cools exuding authority in marshalling the defence.
"Cools is the man shouting instructions to everyone and his body language shows that he is in command. The other players pick up on that, from the front three to the back. There is a different mentality in the team and that is down to the coach," said Shahrom who provided commentary on the match.
"The organisation in the team is much better, the pattern of play is clearer and combinations between players much improved. Honestly, before the match, I wondered if we could get through this group but after watching them yesterday, I'm confident we can do it."
Pan Gon's effect on the team has seen Malaysia win four of five matches since March, earning 21.8 points to accumulate 1,056.33 in total for Malaysia's highest tally after a new ranking system was introduced by Fifa in November 2018.
There remains a weakness, however, which could cost Pan Gon his well-coiffed mane and which successive national coaches have tried to fix.
The national team's tendency to shoot themselves in the foot nearly gave Turkmenistan a route back into the game when Shahrul Saad suffered a brain fade and lost possession in a dangerous area as Malaysia conceded.
With that went Malaysia's chance of keeping three successive clean sheets for the first time since 2016 and prompted Pan Gon to send in Junior Eldstal for Safawi to shore up the defence with 27 minutes remaining while sitting on a 3-1 lead.