KUALA LUMPUR: Harimau Malaya ended an 11-year title drought in the Merdeka Tournament with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Lebanon in the final at the National Stadium on Sunday.
Spanish caretaker coach Pau Marti Vicente boldly made six changes to Malaysia's first 11, a strategy that paid off against world No. 116 Lebanon.
Among the benched players were established names like Daniel Ting, Paulo Josue, Arif Aiman Hanapi and Akhyar Rashid.
Vicente moulded his team around Dominic Tan, Endrick Dos Santos, Safawi Rasid, Nooa Laine, Syafiq Ahmad and La'Vere Corbin-Ong.
Lebanon proved to be hard to crack, but naturalised player Dos Santos made the difference for the hosts in the 33rd minute.
The skilful Brazilian-born midfielder set up the Colombian-born Romel Morales for the only goal of the match, sending the 5,000 crowd into a frenzy.
Tensions boiled over late into the game when Lebanon's Khalil Khamis received his second yellow card, reducing his team to 10 men in the 79th minute.
It escalated into a brawl involving Feroz Baharudin and a Lebanese player after a controversial decision by the referee, Thoriq Munir Alkatir.
Despite the extra man advantage, world No. 134 Malaysia couldn't extend their lead, but it was enough for them to troop off the field as winners.