The Al Duhail forward starred throughout an intriguing encounter to guide Qatar, who finished fourth at the competition’s 2016 edition, into the next phase and break Palestinian hearts after they had forced their way back into the game late on.

Qatar are now scheduled to meet either Iraq or Vietnam in the last four on Tuesday.

On a foggy night in Jiangsu province, it was tournament debutants Palestine who raced out of the blocks at the Changzhou Olympic Sports Center, striker Oday Dabbagh making the most of hesitancy in the Qatar defence to fizz a shot narrowly wide of the left-hand upright with only 40 seconds played.

Group A winners Qatar responded quickly however, and Felix Sanchez’s charges came close to taking the lead on seven minutes when Sultan Al Brake’s lobbed attempt from a quick Akram Afif free-kick landed on the roof of the net with Palestine goalkeeper Ramzi Fahkouri beaten.

Qatar continued to press their opponents, and after seeing Fakhouri make a fine save from his drilled shot, Almoez Ali finally broke the deadlock on 32 minutes, the livewire striker connecting with Bassam Al Rawi’s pinpoint pass to steer the ball home with an outstretched leg and claim his fourth goal of a memorable campaign.

Qatar resolutely survived a late fightback from a resilient Palestine side, after Almoez Ali’s brace and Hashim Ali’s second half strike had put them in control of the last eight encounter in Changzhou.

While the victory helped set up a last four meeting with either Iraq or Vietnam, Sanchez believes it also underlined one of his squad’s key characteristics.

“I think these players have showed for the last four years that they are very competitive,” explained the Spaniard, who oversaw the Qatar side that finished fourth at the tournament’s 2016 edition.

“This group won the 2014 AFC U-19 Championship in Myanmar, and they reached the last four at the U23 Championship two years ago in Qatar.

“We are (once again) in the last four, while a lot of teams who came to win this competition are already out. We are also in the top four of Asia which for Qatar is, I believe, a very good achievement.

“But of course, we are going to fight very hard to go even further in this competition.”

First half goals from Javokhir Sidikov, Jasurbek Yakhshiboev and Dostonbek Khamdamov gave Uzbekistan a comfortable lead before the break, and Yakshiboev struck again after the restart to seal a historic semi-final appearance for the White Wolves.

Khaydarov said his team were well prepared for Japan, having analysed them ahead of the game.

“In the first half, we played very well, because we knew how Japan would play with the ball and we tried to press them.

“The way we scored our first three goals was the way we planned during training.

“We followed the strategy we had prepared for Japan.”

Uzbekistan showcased a dominant display of football and raced to a comfortable three-goal lead in the first half, before Jasurbek Yakhshiboev sealed the win with his second goal of the game after the break.

Before the match began, both teams observed a minute’s silence in memory of the Uzbekistan citizens who perished in the recent bus fire in Kazakhstan.

Uzbekistan, well aware of Japan’s quality, applied pressure from the start and didn’t give the young Samurai Blue any space to move freely.

The early aggression gave Uzbekistan the lion’s share of possession, forcing Japan to play on the counter.