Ryu Seung-woo opened the scoring in the 51st minute before Moon Chang-jin doubled the Koreans' advantage ten minutes later from the penalty spot.

Igor Sergeev reduced the deficit in the 66th minute with his competition-leading seventh of the campaign only for Kang Sang-woo, who was fouled in the lead up to Moon's penalty, to seal the 3-1 with 12 minutes remaining.

Both Korea Republic and Uzbekistan rang the changes from the sides that won their respective quarter-finals over Iran and Syria, with Korean coach Lee Kwang-jong having to do without the services of the suspended trio of Sim Sang-min, inspirational midfielder Lee Gwang-hun and striker Kwon Chang-hoon, while Uzbek coach Akhmadjan Musaev opted for a less attack-minded strategy as he looked to contain a Korean side that had scored four times in their victory over the Iranians.

The first-half was a cagey affair with neither side creating any real chances while the second was a much more entertaining affair as both sides became more focussed on attack.

And it was the Koreans that broke the deadlock in the 51st minute when a Kim Sun-woo corner – which had been earned a minute earlier when Uzbek keeper Asilbek Amanov had done well to deny Moon – reached defender Woo Ju-sung who set up the ball perfectly for Ryu to lash the ball into the Uzbekistan net via the underside of the crossbar.

Ten minutes later Kang charged into the Uzbekistan penalty box only for the midfielder to be tripped by captain Vladimir Kozak. Qatar referee Banjar Mohammed awarded the 61st minute spot-kick which was coolly converted by Moon, who sent the ball into the top corner with Amanov guessing the wrong the way.

Five minutes later Uzbekistan pulled one back as Sergeev maintained his goal-a-game record when he received a pass from Abbosbek Makhstaliev and accurately slotted the ball past Korean keeper Lee Chang-geun to rekindle the Uzbeks hope of late fight-back.

However, the Koreans restored their two-goal cushion with what transpired to be the final goal of the game when, in the 78th minute, Kim Hyun headed the ball into the path of Kang and he made no mistake in firing past Aminov as the Koreans took their tally to for the knockout stages to seven in two matches.