Malaysia had opened their campaign with a 6-2 win over Tajikistan but suffered a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Thailand in their second match.

Japan defeated Thailand 5-2 in their opening match but were then held to a 0-0 draw by a plucky Tajikistan, meaning whoever won on Thursday would advance to the quarter-finals.

Tajikistan - who rebounded from a 6-2 defeat to Malaysia to hold Japan to a 0-0 draw on Matchday Two, needed a win while hoping Japan would beat Malaysia for the Central Asians to reach the quarter-finals.

For Thailand, who defeated Malaysia 4-2 in their second match, a win would have been enough to make the knockout stage berth.

With Japan defeating Malaysia 2-0, Tajikistan advanced as Group A runners-up.

En route to the Finals, Afghanistan beat the likes of Kyrgyz Republic, Lebanon and Bhutan, but despite a 2-1 loss to Islamic Republic of Iran, Sayed Hadi Kazemi’s charges qualified as one of the five best second-placed teams, to make their first appearance in the Championship.

“I’m very happy to represent Afghanistan as a captain to play in the AFC U-16 Championship for the first time in my country’s history,” expressed the skipper.

“I’m very happy to be here to gain experience against the top teams in Asia.”

Having lost 3-0 to Korea Republic in their opener, Australia needed the three points against Iraq and they showed commendable spirit to carve out a 2-1 win.

Forward Noah Botic was glad that Australia lived up to their coach’s expectations.

“Trevor always wants us to play calm and simple but quickly as well,” said Botic.

“We started to do that after they went down a man and used it to our advantage.

“Mainly it was to shut out key players and stop them from playing long balls. Their playing style was to counter attack and get us on the break. I think we did well to shut them out.”

While the scoreline pleased him, what was especially satisfying was the fact that his players shared the scoring duties as Korea Republic took a huge step towards the quarter-finals.

Kim was quick to point out that Choi Min-seo was not the centre of attention against Afghanistan as he relied on other players to contribute the goals and create chances.

“We selected No.9 (Choi Min-seo) not because of his scoring abilities, but because off the ball, he is defensively very aggressive, he puts pressure on opponents defence and this time we wanted the other players to contribute to the team’s performance,” said Kim.

With only one point to their name after two matches, Vietnam will need to defeat Islamic Republic of Iran by three clear goals on Thursday and hope India defeat Indonesia for the young Golden Dragons to seal knockout stage berth from Group C.

“I know that we have a slim chance, but we are not going to give up hope,” Van Khang told the-AFC.com.

“Even if we have one percent chance, we are still going to fight for it.

“The whole team will work very hard together. We will play compact, we will play according to the tactical plans prepared by the coach, and if we do that, we will definitely get the three points," added the firward.

The 2008 champions have yet to score after their 2-0 loss in the opener against Indonesia and a 0-0 stalemate with India on Monday.

Alireza Bavieh came close to scoring IR Iran’s first goal of the tournament against India on Monday but was denied by goalkeeper Niraj Kumar, who was quick to parry his penalty in the 74th minute.