New national coach Kim Pan Gon has reinstilled a sense of swagger, self-belief and confidence in the national team, which was last seen in 2019 when Malaysia rampaged through the World Cup qualifiers.
While it is still too early to pass judgment, Wednesday's 2-0 win over the Philippines in a friendly at Singapore's National Stadium is just the pick-me-up the national team needed after a dismal end to Tan Cheng Hoe's four-year stint in charge.
Retaining only four players from the side which started in the 4-1 defeat to Indonesia last December, Pan Gon showed what the national team are capable of when the best players are made available.
Seven Johor Darul Ta'zim players were named in the starting line-up in addition to Syafiq Ahmad, who is on loan to Kedah.
Questions will continue to be asked over the presence of others, notably Liridon Krasniqi.
However, Pan Gon appears to have the right blend of youth and experience with the second match of the FAS Tri-Nations Series against Singapore today, allowing a few others to press their claims ahead of the Asian Cup qualifiers in June.
Pan Gon has also turned out to be prescient in recalling former national captain Safiq Rahim as Ahmad Khuzaime Piee proved a revelation in central defence.
Safiq made light of his four-year absence from international football by running the midfield alongside Syamer Kutty Abba, 10 years his junior.
Dion Cools' fifth outing in a national jersey was his best yet after being deployed in his preferred right-back position and along with left-back La'Vere Corbin-Ong, offered Malaysia an attacking outlet that was missing in Cheng Hoe's final year.
With Akhyar Rashid scoring his first international goals since netting against Sri Lanka in October 2019 to take his tally for Malaysia to seven, the belief was also an important factor in the team's display.
This should make today's Causeway derby in Kallang an engrossing battle given that pride is always at stake no matter the occasion, with Malaysia looking to avenge a 1-0 defeat in their last meeting at the 2019 AirMarine Cup semi-finals in Bukit Jalil.
Malaysia are unbeaten in their last three away games against Singapore, whose last win over their Causeway rivals at home was a 5-3 success in a World Cup qualifier in 2011 at the Jalan Besar Stadium.
You would have to go back to 2005 for Singapore's last outright win over Malaysia at Kallang, a 2-0 friendly victory, excluding a penalty shoot-out success after a 1-1 draw in the 2007 AFF Cup semi-finals.
Curiously, this is the 20th consecutive meeting in either Malaysia or Singapore since the two teams last met on neutral territory in Songkhla in 2000, yet each side has only won twice each on home ground in that time, excluding penalty shoot-outs.
Pan Gon will probably make several changes as he looks to utilise his 25-man squad with the likes of Safawi Rasid, Mohamadou Sumareh, Luqman Hakim Shamsuddin, Nor Azam Azih and Khairul Azhan Khalid press for starts while fans are clamouring for Zhafri Yahya to be given his international debut in preference to Krasniqi.
Krasniqi's entry just before the hour-mark to replace Safiq had the effect of stalling the team's attacking momentum with the Philippines gaining more possession, although without seriously threatening to score.
Nazri Nasir is helming Singapore on an interim basis, just as he did when Singapore beat Malaysia at the AirMarine Cup, following the resignation of Tatsuma Yoshida despite leading Singapore to the AFF Cup semi-finals.
The core of Singapore's national team has been retained, including Selangor's Safuwan Baharudin, goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud, Nazrul Nazari, Shahdan Sulaiman, Hariss Harun, Zulfahmi Ariffin and Fandi Ahmad's sons Irfan and Ikhsan, while Gabriel Quak, Shakir Hamzah, Faris Ramli and Anumathan Kumar are missing for various reasons.