KUALA NERUS: It's not often that Malaysia get to win big in football matches. So, beating Papua New Guinea 10-0 was enough to make the national team feel good.
And optimism is starting to kick in for Kim Pan Gon's men who will compete in the Asian Cup in Qatar in January next year.
And the national team head coach believes that Harimau Malaya's growing confidence augurs well for their Asian Cup campaign against South Korea, Jordan and Bahrain.
On Tuesday, Malaysia extended their unbeaten run to four matches (since March) after whipping Papua in an international friendly at the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium.
Malaysia started the match with five foreign-born players - Stuart Wilkins, Noaa Laine, Paolo Josue, La'vere Corbin-Ong and Endrick Dos Santos. At the final whistle, there were four naturalised players on the pitch.
South Korean Pan Gon, who took charge of the Malaysian team in January last year, said the confidence level of his players is improving with every match.
"We (the coaching staff) came here to change Malaysian football to be positive, dominant, and proactive," he said.
"I'm happy tonight (after the 10-0 win) but this is not the end of the campaign, it's just one game. But this is the kind of football we want to play against strong teams.
"Like in the second half (against Papua), that is not something I can teach. It was something that came naturally from the players, it came from the bottom of their hearts.
"In the last one and a half years, the players tried to understand our game model and tactical approach.
"We gave a lot of information to the players. I can see that they are very smart and I'm proud of them," said Pan Gon.
After wasting several gilt-edged chances, Malaysia started their rampage in the second half by scoring nine goals after Safawi Rasid converted a spot-kick just before the first half whistle.
Winger Arif Aiman Hanapi dazzled with four goals (57th, 60th, 87th and 89th minute) while the Brazil-born Josue struck a hat-trick (52nd, 64th and 70th). Malaysia's other goals came from Faisal Halim (59th) and Daniel Ting (76th).
World No 138 Malaysia, in routing No 159 Papua, recorded their biggest win in 49 years since beating the Philippines 11-0 at the 1974 Asian Games in Tehran.
Papua coach Harrison Kamake admitted his men were left stunned by the heavy defeat, and that they had learnt a painful lesson.
"I'm shocked that Malaysia scored 10 goals. This big defeat is a big lesson for us.
"Our players became demotivated after conceding goal after goal in the second half. We didn't expect this result."
