After a cagey opening few minutes, Thailand began to exert control and Sangrawee Meekham had Liu Danping diving across goal to save her effort, with Nattamon Artkla firing over shortly after.

Liu then fielded a tamer shot from Sangrawee and Jenjira Bubpha sent the ball bouncing past the left post, while Sasiphrapa Suksen easily dealt with strikes from Su Jiahong and Jiang Xiaoyu at the other end.

The pressure would eventually pay off for the Thais, despite the heroics of Liu. Having brilliantly saved a deflected shot from Arriya Saetoen and a fierce volley from Jenjira, the goalkeeper was helpless to prevent Hataichanok Tappakun’s corner from ending up in the net after a hefty touch off Zou Yinglan for an own goal in the 11th minute.

Having fallen behind for the first time at this tournament, China PR rallied and stunned their opponents twice within the space of 12 seconds. 

Sasiphrapa’s poor throw was intercepted by Fan Yuqiu near the halfway line and she lashed the equaliser into the top left corner in the 16th minute, before Cao Jiayi fired them into the lead by finishing the rebound from Liu’s shot at a power play.

With 18 seconds left in the half, it went from bad to worse for Thailand as Sasiphrapa received a direct red card for taking down Su as she raced clear and looked to round the custodian.

Jiang headed Liu’s inch-perfect chipped ball over and Ke Yaoxiang’s effort was saved by Nuengruthai Sorahong early in the second half as China PR sought a third.

But they were pegged back on 26 minutes after Ke handled Jenjira’s shot in the area and the latter took responsibility for the penalty by smashing it past Liu.

With the wind in their sails, Thailand began to dominate proceedings more and retook the lead in the 32nd minute. Receiving the ball on the left, Arriya advanced and slid a low shot that took a nick off Zhan Huimin to end up in goal.

Nuengruthai then came up big for the Thais in the closing minutes with a remarkable point-blank save to foil Zhang Rui from close range, as Asia’s top-ranked side held on to book the ultimate showdown with Japan on Saturday.

Joyous scenes were witnessed upon the full-time whistle from the Thai camp and Thanatorn praised his side for their resilience.

“I am so proud of the players,” the 45-year-old said. “There was a lot of pressure on us going into the game, so I told them to try to relax and carry out what we have done in training.

“At half-time, I urged the players to be calm and have confidence even with one player down, and wait for the appropriate moments to attack.”

His opposite number, Hu Jie, admitted there was disappointment at falling short but at the same time expressed pride at having reached the semi-finals for the first time ever.

“First of all, I want to thank my players for giving their all and displaying such bravery,” the 38-year-old said. “We are a young team and… being able to display such courage and fighting spirit against a top team like Thailand is fantastic to see from my players.

“Naturally, we lack the experience of playing at such a stage; there were some issues with our attack, especially in the second half, so we need to improve on that and be more confident when we have the ball.”