The reigning AFC Asian Cup champions matched the United States for the most part of their semi-final but were finally undone by Gyasi Zardes' 86th minute winner.

The final result may well have been different had Hassan Al Haydos converted a 54th minute penalty, which could have taken Qatar into the final against Mexico but Sanchez had no regrets as the West Asian side continue their preparations for the FIFA World Cup Finals 2022 on home soil.

Captain Maya Yoshida hit the decisive penalty to earn Japan a 4-2 shoot-out win over the OlyWhites after the two nations had shared a goalless 120 minutes in their quarter-final on Saturday.

The East Asians began the match as the top scorers in the competition but it was 2012 gold medalists Mexico who broke the deadlock in the 12th minute through Henry Martin before Lee Dong-gyeong levelled in stunning fashion eight minutes later.

But the Ulsan Hyundai man's equaliser did not swing the momentum the Koreans' way as a lovely strike from Luis Romo and a Sebastian Cordova penalty had the Mexicans 3-1 up at the interval.

Trailing 2-1 with less than two minutes remaining, the Matildas stayed in the contest thanks to last-gasp Kerr equaliser, setting the scene for a wild, seesawing period of extra time at the Kashima Stadium.

In a roller coaster match that had to be seen to be believed, the precocious forward came off the bench with 10 minutes to go and made a significant impact shortly afterwards by scoring in extra time to give the Australians a 3-2 lead.

The Nadeshiko, despite struggling to produce their customary high standards, squeezed into the last eight as one of the two best third-placed teams but ultimately found Sweden a mountain too high to conquer as the hosts fell to a 3-1 defeat.

Magdalena Eriksson opened the scoring for Sweden in the seventh minute with Mina Tanaka equalising in the 23rd but the European side - unbeaten in more than 16 months - turned on the power in the second half with Stina Blackstenius and Kosovare Asllani (penalty) taking them through to a semi-final against Australia.

The 73-year-old Advocaat, who replaces Srecko Katanec, returns to Asia for the third time as a national team head coach after previously managing United Arab Emirates in 2005 and Korea Republic in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals.