A tepid opening 15 minutes saw no openings created or shots taken whatsoever as both sides struggled to find their rhythm, with Uzbekistan having a slight advantage in possession over their opponents.

The match came to life in the 22nd minute when following a fast break, an unmarked Moon Ji-hwan collected a loose ball in the centre of the area and fired beyond Uzbekistan keeper Olimjon Shamuratov’s reach for the opening goal.

The Central Asian side could have leveled four minutes later but Sukhrob Sadirdjanov lingered over the ball in a one-on-one with keeper Moon Yu-no, and the midfielder’s last-minute exchange with Ravshanbekov ended with Sadirdjanov booting the ball wide from outside the six-yard box.

Sadirdjanov was again denied in the 29th minute when his tame shot from the left was pushed away by a diving Moon, with Mukhammad Khakimov then heading wide from the resulting corner.

Uzbekistan’s constant pressure paid off in the 41st minute when Moon failed to properly handle a lobbed back-pass from Korea Republic forward Nam Ian, with Ravshanbekov robbing the helpless custodian of the ball and guiding it into the back on an empty net.

Ravshanbekov secured his second goal two minutes into added time when he burst down the right, evaded three defenders and sent a perfectly-weighted shot from the edge of the area that dropped into the top right corner beyond an outstretched Moon.

Uzbekistan continued to keep their opponents on the back foot after the break but Korea Republic gradually began to assert themselves, with Choi Jae-Hyeok trying his luck in the 56th minute from 35 yards and Ahn Joo-wan sending his shot high and wide 10 minutes later.

Sadirdjanov tested Korea Republic’s substitute keeper Jang Jun-yeong with a stiff grounder in the 68th minute while there was more drama on the other end when Ahn forced Shamuratov to push the ball away in the 80th minute with Han Seung-min’s follow-up effort cleared off the line.

Korea Republic finally found their equaliser in the 88th minute when An Sun-hyun, picking up a poked pass from skipper Choi Min-jun, curled the ball from the edge of the area past a rooted Shamuratov to force the tie to penalties.

Uzbekistan had sent on Sirojiddinov just before the final whistle, and he produced the save of the day to deny Park’s spot-kick to send his team into the semi-finals.