Final eight for Sonny's South Korea

Heung-Min Son's South Korea had to battle their way through 120 minutes of football to secure their place in the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup with a 2-1 win over Bahrain on Tuesday.

Hee-Chan Hwang had opened the scoring for South Korea on 43 minutes but the round of 16 tie was taken to extra time by Mohamed Al Romaihi, who fired home from close range late in the second period. Jin-Su Kim stepped up in that additional period to head his nation into the final eight.

South Korea had dominated the early stages but needed a bit of Sonny magic to break the deadlock. The forward stormed through the centre of midfield before picking out Lee Yong on the wing. The full-back then crossed the ball into a dangerous area and when it fell to the feet of Hwang, the striker clinically fired it home.

Bahrain grew in confidence in the second half, however, and after much pressure, were eventually level as Al Romaihi rifled the ball home from close range on 77 minutes to take the game to extra time.

It would be substitute Kim who would step up to the task of winning the game for his nation as, on the stroke of half-time in the additional period, he headed home to make it 2-1.

Son played the full 120 minutes.

South Korea will now face a quarter-final test on Friday in Abu Dhabi against the winners of the final round of 16 clash between Qatar and Iraq.