Ritsu Doan's 57th-minute penalty sealed the Samurai Blue's fifth win in a row by a singe-goal margin, securing a place in the final four for the fifth time in the last six editions of the competition.

Like Turkmenistan, Oman and Uzbekistan before them, Vietnam made Hajime Moriyasu's side work hard for the final result, but while a consummate Japanese performance has yet to materialise, Endo said he was pleased with their building momentum.

Their place in the last four against Islamic Republic of Iran was sealed with a 1-0 win over plucky Vietnam and the Japan head coach said the performance against feisty opposition was proof that the Samurai Blue are growing stronger with each passing match.

Japan dominated the tie at the Al Maktoum Stadium and shrugged off being denied a goal in the first half by a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review to advance.

Ironically, it was a VAR review that led to Japan’s goal, as they were awarded a penalty after Ritsu Doan had been brought down in the box. The midfielder then stepped up to convert.

The valiant Southeast Asians campaign ended after they lost 1-0 to four-time champions Japan in their quarter-final at the Al Maktoum Stadium.

Vietnam qualified for the knockout stage of UAE 2019 as the fourth best third-placed team but edged Jordan - who had stunned defending champions Australia 1-0 in the group stage - on penalties to make the quarter-finals.

There was not to be further joy as Japan’s Ritsu Doan converted a second half penalty to take the Samurai Blue through in an absorbing encounter.

Introduced from the quarter-final stage, VAR first denied and then benefited Japan as the Samurai Blue stayed on track for a record-extending fifth AFC Asian Cup title.

VAR was first called into play in the 24th minute when Maya Yoshida's goal was ruled out for a handball and again in the 56th minute when Vietnam's Bùi Tien Dung was ultimately judged to have brought down Ritsu Doan.

Doan converted the spot-kick and Japan will face Islamic Republic of Iran in Monday's semi-final.

On a night of high drama at Abu Dhabi’s Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Mehdi Taremi, Sardar Azmoun and substitute Karim Ansarifard all made the most of hesitant Chinese defending as Iran progressed through to the last four with relative ease.

Iran shone brightly throughout the victory, with goals from Mehdi Taremi, Sardar Azmoun and substitute Karim Ansarifard ultimately making the difference as Queiroz’s charges reached the last four of Asia’s premier event for the first time since 2004.

Despite their impressive form – Iran have now racked up four wins and five successive clean sheets – Queiroz remains adamant that the three-time champions of Asia are still not one of the tournament’s leading contenders ahead of next Monday’s semi-final showdown with Japan in Al Ain.

From the almost 1.3 million votes cast, Nguyen's sublime free-kick garnered 465,629 votes, with China PR's Wu Lei (305,806) and Islamic Republic of Iran's Saman Ghoddos (134,491) second and third respectively.

Now we turn to some of the best goals from the Round of 16, and ask you to select your favourite in our poll at the end.

As Vietnam, Islamic Republic of Iran, China PR, Japan, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Korea Republic and Qatar progressed past the last 16 of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 we saw some stunning strikes along the way.

Here are six we picked for your consideration.