Korea Republic got off to the faster start, with Ahn Joo-wan’s thunderous strike from outside the area rattling the crossbar in the eighth minute. The midfielder tried his luck again in the 16th through a free-kick, but saw his effort from the right of the box go sailing wide.

The East Asian side’s keeper Jang Jun-yeong had his first taste of action in the 19th minute when he calmly collected a low drive from Haitham Al Faqih.

Yemen’s Ahmed Nasser and Sailan Basheer both wasted chances while Korea Republic’s Ahn found the back of the net on the half-hour mark only for his effort to be ruled offside as the sides went into the break without creating any concrete opportunities to break the deadlock.

Head coach Kim Hyun-jun made three substitutions for the second half with newcomer Park Ji-hu forcing a diving save from Yemen keeper Wesam Al-Asbahi in the 51st minute with a blistering shot from outside the area.

Jang proved an equally capable pair of hands at the other end when he tipped over a header from Mohammed Sadeq in the 58th minute, and then punched away the striker’s in-swinging attempt from the resulting corner.

Al-Asbahi pulled off two other saves from Kim Ji-woo’s fiercely-struck shot in the 69th minute and An Sun-hyun’s long-range effort off a set-piece five minutes later as Korea Republic doubled their efforts at an opening goal.

Kim and Koo Hun-min came close to ending the stalemate in the closing minutes but the scoreless result was enough to earn Korea Republic their ticket to the knockout stage.