What was seen as an unattainable dream is getting closer to becoming a reality for Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) after yet another outstanding performance against the supposedly giants of Asian football in the AFC Champions League.
For the Malaysian champions proved to be the equal of Japan's No 1 club Kawasaki Frontale in a 0-0 draw on Thursday.
It goes to show the incredible standards that the Southern Tigers have achieved since 2013.
It wasn't a contest where JDT had to hang onto their hats and defend by "parking the bus" but one which the eight-time Super League champions were able to match up to Kawasaki tactically and technically.
Now with seven points in the bag, JDT sit pretty at the top of the table in Group I and stand to be the first ever Malaysian side to progress from the group stage and into the knockout rounds of the most prestigious club competition in Asia.
Kawasaki kept their powder dry for this particular match by resting nine first choice players in their previous game against Guangzhou but still could not find the means to overpower JDT and in fact were losing battles all over the pitch in the closing period of the game.
It was a noteworthy performance that made the rest of Asia sit up and take notice of JDT with coach Benjamin Mora buzzing after the game and extremely proud of his charges.
"As you can see, it was a very difficult game.
"Japanese teams are very structured, sharp tactically, very technical and they know how to move the ball," said Mora.
"We were betting on fitness maintenance to try to go as far as we could because we knew that we had a little more to give.
"The game at the beginning was very difficult on our right side with the Brazilian winger (Marcio Barbosa) as well as number 19 (Leandro Damiao) with his setting.
"From there we shifted the tactic a bit and we were close to the opponents, so that helped us to have a more compact block.
"We didn't have the ball too much, we wanted the three points but in the end we got one, and for me, it was a golden point."
Having negotiated the first round of matches in Group I impeccably, the challenge now is for JDT to maintain the course in the returning fixtures starting with another meeting against Frontale tomorrow.
The benefit of being able to register 35 players will now be put to the test as Mora and his coaching staff have to gauge the fitness level of his players and make full use of rotation to ensure that they players won't be burnt out.
Three games in seven days are a taxing schedule for the best of teams with Mora quietly confident that his squad have been prepared well to face such a task but is acutely aware that some changes will be needed from game to game.
"If you see the game, we were running more than them in the last 25 minutes. Of course we need to rotate.
"We need to give rest to the key players, we need to give some time to the players who haven't played as much.
"That could come in the next game or the following games but first we need to see how they recover," he added.