Sonny and South Korea out of Asian Cup

Heung-Min Son's South Korea were knocked out of the 2019 Asian Cup after a 1-0 quarter-final defeat to Qatar on Friday.

Sonny once again captained his country in the competition but could not prevent them from slipping to a narrow defeat in Abu Dhabi. South Korea dominated the game from the early stages but a superb strike from Abdulaziz Hatem on 78 minutes saw Qatar home.

Chances were few and far between in the first half as both teams remained resolute at the back and while South Korea dominated, they failed to hit the target in the opening 45 minutes.

The second period sprung into life, however, as Qatar began to show their attacking threat and forced a good save from Seung-Gyu Kim within three minutes of the restart. The teams pressed and played more directly and, with 12 minutes to go, Qatar took the lead when Hatem picked out the bottom corner from 25 yards.

South Korea thought they had levelled it within a minute of the goal but Ui-Jo Hwang's effort was quickly ruled out for offside. They continued to search for the equaliser but it was not to be and Qatar progressed to the final four where they join Iran, Japan and either Australia or UAE.