The Koreans looked to be on their way to a comfortable win when Hwang Hee-chan put them in front two minutes before half-time but, after Bento’s side missed a string of chances early in the second period, Bahrain battled back to level through Mohammed Al Romaihi.

That took the game into extra-time, where a fine header from Kim Jin-su in stoppage time at the end of the first period won the match for the Koreans to set up their meeting with Qatar in the last eight.

Bento’s men needed extra-time to see off Bahrain 2-1 in their Round of 16 tie at the Rashid Stadium to set up a meeting with the impressive Qatar next.

Goals by Hwang Hee-chan and substitute Kim Jin-su secured the East Asians their passage to the quarter-finals but they were not at their fluid best against Bahrain and Bento said Korea Republic have to play in the style they are most comfortable with.

Substitute Kim Jin-su was the Korea Republic hero with his headed winner at the tail end of the first period of extra-time and the two-time champions will now face either Qatar or Iraq, who play later on Tuesday, in the last eight at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Sports City Stadium on Friday.

Bahrain can walk tall despite the defeat as they took the match to the Koreans and in scoring, became the first team in the tournament to breach the East Asians defence.

Bassam Al Rawi’s sublime free-kick in the second half of an absorbing tie helped seal the success, as Qatar racked up a fourth successive victory to guarantee themselves a third AFC Asian Cup quarter-final appearance after reaching the same stage in both 2000 and 2011.

With their last eight encounter against Korea Republic to come at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Sports City Stadium on Friday, Sanchez feels Qatar’s current campaign in the United Arab Emirates points to a particularly bright future for his team – especially with the 2022 FIFA World Cup edging ever closer.

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.

The West Asians bounced back from a goal down through Mohamed Al Romaihi’s second half strike to push their Round of 16 tie into an additional 30 minutes at the Rashid Stadium on Tuesday, only to eventually fall to Korea Republic substitute Kim Jin-su’s header in the first period of extra time.

After squeezing into the knockout stage as the third-placed team in Group D, the Southeast Asians confounded pre-match predictions to beat Jordan on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the Round of 16.

Park Hang-seo's side's run to the quarter-finals is the latest achievement in a whirlwind 12 months, which has included reaching the final of the AFC U-23 Championship, the semi-finals of the Asian Games, and winning the AFF Championship.