Vietnam, who lost in the final to Uzbekistan in China in 2018, finished bottom of the group as the United Arab Emirates and Jordan advanced to the last eight while Park’s side ended the tournament with only one goal to show for their efforts across their three games.

The successful duo join Australia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Korea Republic and Uzbekistan in the last eight with a place in the competition’s semi-finals – as well the potential of moving a step nearer to sealing a place at this year’s Olympics – at stake.

With all still to play for, join the-AFC.com as we take a closer look at the teams’ journeys so far.

Vietnam needed to win to have any hope of taking one of the top two places in Group D of the AFC U23 Championship Thailand 2020 and took the lead through Nguyen Tien Linh 16 minutes into the game.

But a goalkeeping error by Bui Tien Dung handed DPR Korea an equaliser 11 minutes later to seriously wound Vietnam’s chances and Ri’s 90th minute penalty sealed Vietnam’s fate as DPR Korea picked up their first win of their tournament.

Maciej Skorza made two changes to the side that started both previous games; introducing Mohammed Al Attas and Khaled Ebrahim for Yahia Nader and Saeed Suwaidan. Meanwhile, Mohammed Bani Atieh returned to Jordan’s starting line-up after missing the Vietnam match through injury.

Feras Al Birakan’s 80th minute goal in a 1-0 win over regional rivals Syria - who also qualified - saw Saudi Arabia top the Group B standings and head into the next round having won two of their three group stage fixtures.

Although delighted to have guided Saudi Arabia through to the last eight, Alshehri is adamant that there is more work to be done if the West Asians are to realise their ambition of qualifying for this year’s Olympics.

Behind to Oh Se-hun’s fifth minute goal, reigning champions Uzbekistan replied through a Bobir Abdixolikov header only for Oh to seal all three points for the Koreans courtesy of his second goal of the game with 19 minutes of the Group C encounter remaining.

While Korea Republic progressed as group winners, the result also saw second-placed Uzbekistan advance through to the knockout phase and, in the process, maintain their bid to reach this year’s Olympics in Tokyo.

From 25 shots at goal, only Omid Noorafkan’s 87th minute penalty found the back of the net against Hao Wei’s side, continuing a tournament-long trend of wastefulness from an Iranian squad which showed glimpses of quality in all three matches.

Making Iran’s elimination all the more painful, second-placed Uzbekistan lost 2-1 in their simultaneous match against Korea Republic, meaning a handsome victory from Hamid Estili’s side would have sent them to the last eight.