Fahad Almuwallad opened the scoring at the Al Maktoum Stadium in the 12th minute to give Saudi Arabia an early lead, before Hussain Almoqahwi sealed their convincing victory with his 67th minute sliding effort, courtesy of Bahbri’s pinpoint delivery into the box.

The win places Saudi Arabia on top of the Group E standings with six points, and they will seal their place in the knockout stage should DPR Korea not beat Qatar on Sunday.

Lebanon, defeated 2-0 by Qatar on Matchday One, will have to beat DPR Korea if they are to have a chance of advancing as one of the four best third-place teams.

Sanchez’s side eventually secured a 2-0 win over the West Asian side with goals from Abdulaziz Hatem and Almoez Ali, but they had to wait to break down Miodrag Radulovic’s well-drilled Lebanese side.

The Spanish coach, though, praised his team’s patient approach and has no intention of a different approach when they take on DPR Korea, with victory almost certain to take the Qataris into the next phase of the competition.

Saturday’s 2-0 win over Vietnam, along with Iraq’s later defeat of Yemen, saw Iran – who have now won their opening two games at the AFC Asian Cup for the third tournament in a row – assure themselves of a place in the knockout phase.

While Wednesday’s fixture will undoubtedly rekindle memories of Iraq’s sensational quarter-final victory over the Iranians at the AFC Asian Cup’s last edition, it will also determine who finishes top of Group D, a fact not lost on Queiroz.

Iraq were made to sweat a little against Yemen in the opening minutes of the game but took control shortly before taking a comfortable 2-0 lead at half-time.

Although Katanec’s men found it hard to break down their opponents in the second half, the third goal eventually arrived late in the game and the Slovenian was pleased with his team’s performance.

Four-time AFC Asian Cup champions Japan raised their game after trailing 1-0 against Turkmenistan at the break but some tweaking by Moriyasu saw a vastly different side in the second half as the Samurai Blue eventually won 3-2.

Oman, having suffered a 2-1 defeat to Uzbekistan in their opener, need a win to keep their hopes alive and head coach Pim Verbeek promised that his team will give it their all at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

With three points in the bag after their 2-1 win over Oman, the White Wolves can seal their place in the Round of 16 with a win over their neighbours, and continue their impressive record of not missing the knockout stage since 2000.

Speaking ahead of the tie, Cuper said he had been impressed by a Turkmenistan side which led Japan before ultimately losing 3-2 in their opening match.