Kuala Lumpur: The 2010 champions Malaysia are through to the semi-finals of the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2022 after they defeated Singapore 4-1 in a must-win final Group B fixture at Bukit Jalil National Stadium on Tuesday.

Singapore only had to rescue a draw against Malaysia to progress, but Darren Lok gave the home side a deserved breakthrough in the 35th minute when he turned in a cross from Safawi Rasid.

Stuart Wilkin then struck twice in the space of four minutes after the interval to give Malaysia a 3-0 lead before Faris Ramli pulled one back for the visitors. However, a late Sergio Aguero strike sealed his side's 4-1 win and set up a semi-final clash against six-time champions Thailand.

Safawi returned to captain Kim Pan-gon’s Malaysia side who needed nothing less than a win to make the knockout stages. Injured Ilhan Fandi dropped to the Singapore bench as Takayuki Nishigaya opted for Amy Recha and Song Ui-young in the attack.

Malaysia were the brighter of the sides in the opening minutes and Singapore goalkeeper Hassan Sunny had to come off his line in the ninth minute to stop the advancing Faisal Halim before saving from Ruventhiran Vengadesan on the rebound.

Faisal was a constant menace for the Singapore defence in the first half and the Selangor attacker headed just over from a Safawi corner in the 16th minute before stealing possession in the attacking third and testing veteran custodian Hassan the very next minute.

Singapore were slowly growing into the game when Malaysia landed a sucker punch in the 35th minute. Shah Shahiran was at fault this time, giving away possession not once, but twice in the final third and allowing Safawi to deliver a cross that was headed in at the near post by their English-born striker Lok.

Singapore looked lost for answers while Faisal continued to pop up in dangerous areas. His header from a Mukhairi Ajmal cross sailed wide of the goal three minutes before the interval.

Singapore head coach Nishigaya introduced Shawal Anuar in place of Shah at the half-time break looking for a change in fortunes, but it was the Harimau Malaya and Wilkin who scored two goals in four minutes to effectively kill the contest.

It was substitute Shawal who gave away possession cheaply this time five minutes into the restart and Wilkin let fly from 30 yards out, catching Hassan by surprise as the ball slipped through the goalkeeper’s gloves for Malaysia’s second.

Wilkin then found his second in the 54th minute, receiving a cut-back from captain Safawi and turning Shahdan Sulaiman with a neat first touch before firing past the 'keeper with his left foot to make it 3-0 to the home side.

Singapore’s defensive woes persisted as Hassan gave away the ball to substitute Aguero in the 80th minute, but he redeemed himself by denying the Sri Pahang striker. The four-time champions did get some consolation as Faris came off the bench to make it 3-1 in the 85th minute.

However, Aguero put the icing on the cake for Malaysia in the 88th minute as his first-time finish curled into the bottom corner, sending the 65,000-strong crowd at Bukit Jalil National Stadium into raptures.

Finishing second in Group B, Malaysia will have Group A winners and defending champions Thailand as their semi-final opponents while Group B winners Vietnam, who defeated Myanmar 3-0 in Tuesday's other encounter, will take on Group A runners-up Indonesia in the other last-four tie.