Abdumutallib Abdullayev had given the Central Asians a sixth-minute lead at Zibo Sports Centre but after going on to dominate the majority of the game and hitting the woodwork twice, it seemed the Saudis were nevertheless destined to exit the tournament.

However, Abdullah Otayf levelled in the 83rd minute following a scramble in the box before Fahad Al Johani swept home the winner in the first-half of extra time to also book a place at next year's FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia.

“After the first goal, I told my players to keep calm and play their football,” said Al Koroni (pictured).

“Our football is to keep the ball, maintain possession of the ball in the middle and to always protect our goal and our defence.

“After the players heard that instruction, they tried to do it and they succeeded. The China game (Saudi Arabia lost their opening game 3-1) was a good lesson for us and we managed to control most of the game.

Al Koroni also paid tribute to Otayf not only for his crucial equaliser, but the midfielder's all-round contribution.

“This player, he can fulfil two functions, attacking and defending,” he added.

“After we conceded the goal, I tried to push another player further forward for more penetration so I asked him to perform more defensive duties. At the same time, he also had the opportunity to support the attack.”

Disappointed Uzbekistan coach Marat Kabaev felt scoring the early goal actually worked against his side.

“They were much stronger than us, Saudi Arabia controlled much of the game after they went 1-0 down and they were a very strong team during the match,” he said.

“We scored an early goal but that was a very good opportunity for Saudi to take control of the game and gain the upper hand.

“The early goal did not help us as the players played a lot more defensively for the rest of the match, they looked tired on the pitch and the goal gave our players the wrong mentality.”

However, Kabaev hopes the heartbreaking exit will eventually benefit his men in the future.

“I hope most of the players will play for the Olympic and national team at some point so it's been good for them to play such important matches at this level,” he added.

“Yes, there was not enough experience and concentration for this game but that's what we learned today and hopefully in the future, this bad experience will turn out to be helpful.”