Malaysia will face off against Timor-Leste in Playoff 1 in June for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup for a chance to join Singapore in the final qualifying round.
With the 2018 AFC FIFA World Cup second qualifiers doubling up with the Asian Cup process, Malaysia finished fourth in Group A behind Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Palestine to secure a place in Playoff 1.
Winners from Playoff 1 will advance directly for the final round while the five losing teams will go into Playoff 2, together with the lowest ranked nation, Bhutan.
The six sides will be drawn into three pairs in Playoff 2. Each pair will play two matches on Sep. 6 and Oct. 11 to determine who goes through to the final round.
Malaysia assistant coach Brad Maloney says that while Timor-Leste will be a tough challenge, he is confident that previous matches between the two nations will give them an advantage.
"It's another challenge we must face. As you know, there are no easy games regardless of who you play at this level, but at least we know a bit about them from our previous matches," he told ESPN FC.
The first leg of Playoff 1 will take place on June 1 with the second leg scheduled for June 7.
Malaysia have arranged for a series of friendlies after the matches against Timor-Leste and will travel to the Oceania region to play Papua New Guinea (June 17), New Caledonia (June 22) and Fiji (June 26).
Should Malaysia come away victorious against Timor-Leste, they could be grouped together with arch rivals Singapore, who are one of 16 teams who have already qualified for the final round on the road to the United Arab Emirates.
2019 Asian Cup, Playoff 1 - Chinese Taipei vs. Cambodia, Maldives vs. Yemen, Tajikistan vs. Bangladesh, Malaysia vs. Timor-Leste, Laos vs. India