FAM secretary-general Noor Azman Rahman in a statement said the letter was sent following discussions with the FAM referee evaluation committee, which reviewed video clips of the match.

“Following that, an official letter expressing FAM’s dissatisfaction with the referee’s actions and decisions in the match was sent to AFF secretary-general Winston Lee this afternoon, so that further action can be taken by them,” he said.

Controversy erupted when Japanese referee Ryuji Sato awarded a penalty kick to the home team and red-carded Azam Azmi Murad in the 62nd minute after the Japanese referee claimed the Terengganu FC youngster had fouled Doan Van Hau outside the field.

Que Ngoc Hai made the most of the opportunity to double Vietnam’s lead after Nguyen Tien Linh put the team ahead in the first half, and the home side finished with a 3-0 victory courtesy of Nguyen Hoang Duc’s goal close to fulltime.

The defeat meant Malaysia failed to end their winless drought against the two-time AFF Cup champions since 2014 – losing seven and drawing once, while last night’s success for Vietnam saw them top Group B with six points from two games.

Malaysia are second with six points, followed by Singapore in third place (six points) with a game in hand, while Myanmar and Laos sit at the bottom without any points so far.