It was a month for the underdogs and improbable victories as an eventful soccer decade on Asian soil came to a close.
With Hong Kong still basking in the glory of their East Asian Games gold medal at the expense of Japan, part-timers Auckland City won two games to finish fifth at the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi.
And unfancied Malaysia, with a Fifa ranking of 160, were crowned men's champions at the Southeast Asian (Sea) Games in Laos last week after a drought of two decades. Along the way in the under-23 competition, they eliminated eight-time defending champions Thailand before beating Vietnam 1-0 in the gold-medal match.
The secret to their unexpected success? Throwing many of the youngsters in the deep end with the full national team and a controversial ban on foreigners in the Malaysian Super League since the end of last year's season.
In the 1990s, the cash was splashed with talent that included ex-England striker Tony Cottee and Australian internationals Alan Davidson, Abbas Saad and Alistair Edwards who plied their trade in the old M-League before big crowds.
After the millennium, the quality dropped but the foreigners kept coming, with many from Africa. The imports continued to be the league's best-paid players but some had problems collecting their wages from cash-strapped clubs. In the meantime, Malaysia's national team, a respected force in the 1970s and 80s, performed poorly.