Afghanistan progressed to their first AFC U-20 Futsal Championship final after seeing off a plucky Indonesian side, beating the Southeast Asians 4-3 in extra time.

Meanwhile, Japan defeated the defending champions and host nation Islamic Republic of Iran 8-4 in extra time to also make their first appearance in the final.

ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

Goals scored: 13
Conceded: 7
Top scorer: Salar Aghapour (5 goals)

AFGHANISTAN

Goals scored: 11
Conceded: 6
Top scorer: Seyed Hossein Mousavi (4 goals)

Iran will play Japan in Thursday's semi-final after the East Asians defeated 2017 runners-up Iraq in their last eight tie earlier on Tuesday.

The other semi-final will see Indonesia taking on Afghanistan.

Afghanistan, who have stated their aim is to emerge champions, will play Indonesia in the semi-finals on Thursday.

The match was expected to be a cracker as Afghanistan and Thailand were impressive en route to the knockout stage but it was the Southeast Asians who started the brighter and tested goalkeeper Mohammad Javad Safari in the opening minute.

Japan will face the winners of the Islamic Republic of Iran or Lebanon in Thursday's semi-finals.

The tie was a repeat of the 2017 quarter-final, where Iraq emerged victors, but this was a different Japanese side and the match began as expected, with both teams applying heavy pressure from the start. 

Iraq’s Al Muwafaq Al Rubaye had the first real chance of the game in the second minute when he let loose a strike from distance but failed to keep his shot down, before Japan had their own opportunity a minute later after Osawa Masashi intercepted a back pass, but he too missed by inches.

Indonesia will face the winners of the Thailand-Afghanistan tie, who play later on Tuesday, in the semi-finals on Thursday.

Indonesian goalkeeper Ahmad Habiebie returned between the posts after serving a one-match ban, but was hardly called into action in the opening minutes as the young Garuda held the lion’s share of possession, but struggled to beat Vietnam custodian Nguyen Tang Dinh.

Vietnam, who were alert in defence, kept Indonesia at bay but an error by Dao Cong Hoang in the seventh minute almost gave their Southeast Asian rivals a head start when Mohammad Afif Rizky dispossessed Cong Hoang in the final third, but Tang Dinh was alert to thwart the danger.