Queiroz is highly impressed with Pim Verbeek's Oman and has warned his players to be on their toes against the Gulf Cup champions ahead of the last 16 tie at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

"The Oman team is a very good team. They have prepared well and have achieved fantastic results over the last year or so. They played 23, 24 matches and only lost two or three.

"They have a very good coach in Pim Verbeek and we must be careful against them," said Queiroz.

The Shanghai SIPG forward has been training separately from his teammates since sustaining the injury against Kyrgyz Republic on Matchday One but Lippi will pick the 27-year-old as the Chinese attempt to win a game in the knockout phase of the AFC Asian Cup for the first time since 2004.

The two sides met twice in the UAE 2019 Qualifiers, with the matches ending 1-1 and 0-0, but that was before Borkelmans took over the reins from Jamal Ahmad Abu Abed.

Three-time champions Iran may be the favourites but Oman, said skipper Ahmed Al Mahaijri, are not daunted with the prospect of facing the Continent's top ranked team.

"Iran is a very strong team but so are we. We played Japan and Uzbekistan and we showed that we can hold our own against teams who are ranked much higher than us," said Al Mahaijri.

"We have already created history by making the knockout stage but we are not satisfied with just that. We want to create more history."

In the 36 matches played in the group stages of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019, we have seen 96 goals scored - 2.67 per match - and some of them truly memorable strikes. Here are our selected 10 for you to review and judge which is your best.

But just who has been the best performer overall?

We want you to have your say, vote in our poll below to decide which of the following 10 players you think has been the best performer of the group stage.

The line-up was confirmed on Thursday, when Oman and Vietnam claimed the Round of 16's two remaining places, setting the scene for what promises to be an unforgettable climax to the largest ever edition of the competition.