Roared on by a substantial crowd at Uzbekistan Sports Complex, Group A winners Uzbekistan scored three goals in eight second-half minutes through Makhsud Fayzullaev, Dilshod Irsaliev and Artur Yunusov to establish a match-winning lead and secure a place in Friday’s semi-finals.

“We had a day off before the game and we were able to discuss all the details of the match against Australia and also look at the mistakes from the previous matches,” said Sapo.

“Our mood was also at the highest level. We have shown the beautiful game, which I hope our fans enjoyed.”

Steven Knight’s Australia had equalised in the last minute of the first half as Tobias Seeto cancelled out Yunusov’s 18th minute opener.

Shervin Keshavarz-Adel then put Group B runners-up Australia ahead four minutes into the second half, but that kick-started Uzbekistan’s second-half revival as Fayzullaev set the ball rolling just two minutes later.

Greg Giovenali gave Australia hope of a reaching a first AFC Futsal Championship semi-final only for Konstantin Sviridov to add the hosts’ fifth with four minutes remaining to keep Uzbekistan on course for a for the first final since 2006 and third in their history.

“We played to the limits of our capabilities in Tashkent and reaching the quarter-finals is an excellent result for our team,” said Knight.

“The deciding factor which stopped us from advancing to the semi-finals was a simple lack of experience and lack of skill.

“For us, beating Uzbekistan was almost impossible. With such support from the stands it will be difficult for any of the remaining teams to beat Uzbekistan."