A crowd of 48,513 at the Brisbane Stadium were left stunned after witnessing Asian Cup hosts and tournament favourites Australia lose 1-0 to South Korea in their final Group A game.
The only goal of the encounter was scored by striker Lee Jeong-hyeop after 33 minutes to ensure South Korea top the group, with Australia taking the runners-up spot.
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Australia will now face China in the quarter-finals in Brisbane on Thursday, while South Korea will take on either Saudi Arabia or Uzbekistan in Melbourne.
The first genuine chance of the match fell to South Korea’s Kwak Tae-hwi, who headed wide form a corner on 15 minutes.
A minute later, Australia carved out their first real opening when midfielder Nathan Burns cut in from the left, but his low drive was saved by Kim Jin-yeon.
Burns, who had an excellent match in the middle of the park, was cautioned on the half hour for leading with his elbow in a challenge that left Park Joo-ho nursing a nose injury and later led to his replacement by Han Kook-young.
The decisive goal was scored in the 33rd minute when Ki Sung-yueng’s defence-splitting pass put Lee through on goal and he finished calmly past Mathew Ryan.
Australia should have equalised when some superb wing play by Massimo Luongo presented James Triosi with a chance but he shot into the side-netting as the crowd celebrated prematurely. Then, just before half-time, Burns cut in from the right but his left-footed shot was blocked.
Seven minutes after the break Tomi Juric smartly found Ivan Franjic on the right wing and then got on a the end of his cross only for his shot to sail over the bar from only yards out.
Mathew Leckie, one of Australia’s standout players in the 4-0 win against Oman, replaced Triosi on the hour as the home team increasingly put Korea under pressure.
On 70 minutes, a wonderful run and shot by Burns forced Kim into a full-stretch save. It was his, and Matt McKay’s, last action of the match, both replaced by Robbie Kruse and Tim Cahill to huge cheers from the crowd.
With just over two minutes left, Kruse danced through the Korean defence only to have his shot saved by Kim again.
A brilliant save by Ryan kept Australia in the game on 90 minutes, and Cahill was booked for elbowing Kim in an aerial duel. Despite five minutes of added time and unrelenting pressure, Australia could not find the all-important equaliser.
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