The Malaysians are making their debut appearance in the competition at this year’s event and are surprise qualifiers for the last eight after picking up a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia in their final round of group matches to secure their berth in the knockout phase.

And Ong is confident his players can spring another surprise when they take on Kim Bong-gil’s side, despite the Koreans’ greater experience in the final rounds of continental competition.

“It’s another new ride for us, but Korea have been in this stage for a very long time,” he said. “They have a lot of success in these youth tournaments. For us, we are looking forward and hoping we can match them in every way possible.”

Ong’s team sealed a surprise 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to take second place in Group C behind Iraq and in the next phase of the competition, the Malaysians will face the winners of Group D, which will be determined on Wednesday evening.

Danial Amier Norhashim scored the only goal of the game before Ong’s team put on a disciplined defensive performance to keep the Saudis at bay and ensure Malaysia advanced.

“To achieve this is a great achievement,” Ong said. “The players have shown character and that we can compete with superior teams, not just Jordan but Saudi Arabia too. 

“We have not beaten Saudi Arabia in so many years. We drew against Jordan and we won against Saudi Arabia and that’s a massive achievement for our football.”

Danial’s 29th minute strike was enough to earn Malaysia their first win of the tournament and take them into the last eight in second place in the group, behind winners Iraq and ahead of Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Malaysia were forced into a determined rear-guard action throughout the final stages of the game as the Saudis chased the draw they needed to progress, but Daniel Teglia’s side could not find a way past the battling Southeast Asians.

The Saudis had started on the front foot, with Fahad Al Rashidi hitting the crossbar with barely two minutes on the clock with an inswinging free kick while Jaber Asiri threatened with a header just after the quarter hour mark.

Much of the play was taking place in the Malaysian half of the field, with Ong’s side pegged back by a Saudi side desperate to secure the win needed to advance to the quarter-finals.

 

Lee’s goals came either side of a fine effort from Han Seung-gyi that were just enough to see off a determined fightback by the Olyroos and set up a last eight meeting with Malaysia on Saturday.

Two goals in six minutes late in the second half from Nicholas Cowburn and Trent Buhagiar gave Ante Milicic’s team hope of salvaging the win needed to advance to the quarter-finals, but the defeat means Australia exit the competition.

The Koreans inflicted the fatal wounds to Australia’s hopes in a spell-binding opening 45 minutes that ended with Kim’s side holding a two-goal advantage before effectively finishing off the job with a quarter of the game remaining with their third.

The 2016 runners-up were the sharper of the two teams in the first half, with Yoon Seung-won warming Paul Izzo’s hands just 11 minutes into the game with an attempt from long range before Lee put his side in front seven minutes later.

Han Seung-gyu pulled down a high ball inside the Australian penalty before turning Izzo, only for his attempt at goal to be cleared off the line by Thomas Deng. But Lee slotted home the loose ball.