“Our win was a mix of luck and good defending,” said a visibly emotional Soares. ‘‘I believe China were better than us for most of the game, controlled a big part of it and had more opportunities, but they just couldn’t score.” 

The Brazilian, however, said he was proud with how his team had pulled through despite a very challenging match. 

“We tried to absorb the pressure that comes from playing the host country and an amazing team,” he said. “We tried to direct the game and had chances to score, but we didn’t expect our goal to come right at the end.”

China PR had Saudi Arabia on the ropes from the start and would have come away winners if they had put away the many openings that came their way. 

Liu Chengyu, who scored twice in the group stage, failed to convert a penalty in the 58th minute while Kuai Jiwen and Wang Yudong combined well in attack but could not capitalise on one-on-one opportunities against Saudi Arabia keeper Hamed Yousef.

China PR head coach Dejan Djurdjevic acknowledged his squad had squandered several opportunities. 

“This loss is very difficult for us as we played well throughout the tournament,” he said. “I’m totally satisfied with the way we played today and we deserved to win, but sometimes football is a little unfair.”

Saudi Arabia will meet 12-time winners Korea Republic or defending champions Uzbekistan in the semi-finals on Wednesday.