KUALA LUMPUR: National coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee's worst fears were realised when Malaysia slumped to an all-time low of 174th in the latest Fifa rankings released today.
The national team fell eight rungs from No 166, surpassing the previous low of 171st where Malaysia languished as recently as February.
Malaysia paid the price for a 0-0 draw in a friendly with lowly Macau but also a 2-0 defeat inflicted by Saudi Arabia in a World Cup qualifier in March.
To further compound Malaysia's woes, two Asian Cup qualifying victories over Yemen in 2013 and 2014 lost value, thus causing Malaysia's overall points tally to fall from 129 to 119.
Ong, however, believes the current situation is only temporary after the national team were drawn to face Timor Leste, ranked one spot behind Malaysia, in the qualifying playoff round for the 2019 Asian Cup.
The two home and away matches on June 2 and 7, preceded by a friendly match against a yet-to-be-identified opponent, offers Ong's side the chance to gain valuable points with victories.
"While it is disappointing to see our ranking fall so low, we have an opportunity to move back up when we play a friendly match at the end of May and the two playoff matches against Timor Leste," said Ong after the playoff draw at the Asian Football Confederation headquarters in Bukit Jalil today.
"These are very important matches for us, not only for the ranking, but also for our chances to qualify for the Asian Cup.
So we cannot afford anymore hiccups from here on."
The latest ranking places Malaysia 32nd in Asia and sixth in Southeast Asia behind Philippines (116th), Thailand (119th), Vietnam (144th), Singapore (148th) and Myanmar (166th).
Argentina, on the back two World Cup qualifying wins last month, replaced Belgium as the top ranked country in the world while Chile moved up two spots to third.
World Cup holders Germany slipped to fifth behind Colombia, Euro 2012 champions Spain dropped three rungs to sixth, Brazil fell one spot to seventh and England also dropped one place to 10th.
RANKINGS - Top 10
1. Argentina (1,532 points),
2. Belgium (1,352)
3. Chile (1,348)
4. Colombia (1,337)
5. Germany (1,309)
6. Spain (1,277)
7. Brazil (1,251)
8. Portugal (1,184)
9. Uruguay (1,158)
10. England (1,069)
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174. Malaysia (119)