South Korea v Saudi Arabia headlines Asian Cup last 16

DOHA : The Asian Cup enters the business end when the last-16 round kicks off on Sunday, with some shock results in the group stages leaving a few of the continent's heavyweights facing an uphill task if they are to make it all the way to the final.

Juergen Klinsmann's South Korea may have avoided a last-16 clash with Japan but they have it all to do when they take on Roberto Mancini's Saudi Arabia, with the winner of that game potentially facing Australia in the quarter-finals.

Klinsmann could only smile from the dugout when Malaysia scored an equaliser in the 15th minute of stoppage time to push South Korea down to second in the group, although he denied that was part of the plan to avoid Japan in the next round.

"The knockout stage is different from the group stage. Every team is difficult to play," Klinsmann said.

"So no matter who you meet in the round of 16, if you want to win this tournament, you've got to beat everybody. It's as simple as that.

"We've got to have fun, and Saudi Arabia is our next opponent so it will be a battle, but I don't think there's an easy team in this tournament."

Saudi Arabia guaranteed themselves qualification before their third group game but coach Mancini had come under scrutiny for his team selection, and the Italian saw his players score only four goals from 57 attempts in the group stage.

"We had a lot of chances which we couldn't take, but what is important to me is the performance. Our motto is to always play well and try to win," said Mancini, who guided Italy to European championship glory in 2021.

"This is football... but football is to score. In the last two games we had many chances, but I hope we are saving those goals for the next game."

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Japan are the number one