Ward Al Barri gave the Jordanians a 16th minute lead but Safawi struck from the spot as Ong Kim Swee’s side bounced back from their 4-1 loss at the hands of Iraq in the opening round of fixtures.
The draw was Jordan’s second of the competition having kicked off their campaign with a 2-2 draw against Saudi Arabia and the result means both nations go into the final round of group games with the chance of advancing to the last eight.
Iain Brunskill’s side were the first to settle, but they were left to rue claiming only a single goal for 40 minutes of dominance in the first half.
Haziq Nadzli did well to deny Ahmed Al Reyahi with just 11 minutes on the clock, diving to his left to keep the ball out as the Qadsia striker took aim from inside the area.
Five minutes later, though, Jordan took the lead, Mohammad Al Rezam spotting Al Barri’s well-timed run down the left side of the Malaysian defence and Al Rezam’s perfectly placed diagonal pass allowed Al Barri to skip past Haziq before rolling the ball over the line.
Jordan cranked up the pressure as the interval approached, with Annas Hamed curling his attempt just wide before Mousa Al Taamari’s through ball released Al Reyahi into the Malaysian area, only for his goal-bound shot to be blocked.
The inability of the Jordanians to capitalise on their dominance was to haunt them just before the break when Saed Al Roan brought down Akhyar Rashid and Safawi smashed the resulting penalty into the top corner.
Five minutes after the restart, Safawi could have given the Malaysians the lead only for his snapshot from just inside the area to fly narrowly wide and, as the game approached the final quarter, Akhyar thumped his shot against the post after more good work from Safawi. Syazwan Andik flashed his follow-up just wide.
Al Reyahi twice squandered chances to claim all three points for Jordan while Matthew Davies’ shot was deflected onto the post at the other end before both nations were forced to settle for a share of the points.
Ong Kim Swee: Malaysia head coach
"I believe the boys showed good character today. Before the game today, nobody gave us any hope and we almost snatched three points from Jordan, so overall I’m proud of the boys. Of course, luck plays a little bit of a role but the work rate of all the players was great. They worked very, very hard and at the end I think with the two chances we had, if you don’t convert you don't win games."
Ian Brunskill: Jordan head coach
"It was another frustrating result for us really. On the balance of the game, we deserved to win the game with the chances we had. Malaysia had opportunities and hit the post twice. It seemed to be a better performance with the possession we had, but we didn’t turn that possession into the goals we hoped that we might do. That puts us in a position where progression is out of our hands, which will be difficult against a good Iraq team. We will be preparing for that and we have the opportunity to progress through."
