Australia went in search of an early goal as Max Court’s header from Sajjad Nasiri’s corner delivery in the fourth minute grazed the top of the crossbar while Georgio Hassarati’s shot from inside the box was well saved by Ly Xuan Hoa.

Vietnam gradually grew into the game with Nguyen Van Duong’s pacy dribble in the 23rd minute creating an opening for Le Sy Bach, only for Miles Milliner to make a great recovery challenge to block the attempt.

Ly then pulled off a stunning save in the 32nd minute, diving full stretch to his left to palm away a fierce Hassarati strike from the edge of the box.

The deadlock was broken with four first half minutes to play when Vietnam failed to clear an Australia long throw, allowing Henrique Oliveira to head the ball to Oliver O’Carroll, who just couldn’t miss from close range.

Vietnam probed for the equaliser after the interval with Nguyen Minh Thuy warming the gloves of Charlie Wilson-Papps before Le’s mazy run into the box was thwarted by another fantastic Milliner block.

Those misses came back to haunt the Southeast Asian side on the hour mark when Court’s long punt forward was expertly controlled by Hassarati squeezing home past Ly from an acute angle.

Australia confirmed the win in the 75th minute when substitute Akeem Gerald cut in from the right flank, exchanged passes with Court before slotting home to seal a first semi-final appearance since 2018.