Korea republic are dangerously on the verge of elimination from the Asian Cup tournament after 2-1 defeats at the hand of Bahrain, which coupled with a 1-1 draw against Saudi Arabia, leaves the two timed champions bottom of Group D with one match remaining.

And standing on their way are Indonesia, who will be motivated to go through the quarter finals after another co-host, Vietnam went through yesterday.

Saudi Arabia end Japan hopes of a hat-trick of AFC Asian Cups after a 3-2 defeat of the defending champions at the My Dinh Stadium yesterday.

The victory helped the Saudis avenge their 1-0 defeat to the Japanese in 1992 and 2000 Asian Cups Finals and set up a showdown of an all Arabs final with Iraq after Jorvan Vieira's side defeated Korea Republic 4-3 on penalties following their goalless draw in the other semi-final played earlier in Kuala Lumpur.

The Asian Cup started with a bang for three co-hosts, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, each of them notching either a suprise win or draw which was considered a great result. From all the three teams, Indonesia was the most impressive, playing a high tempo game with confident passing play which at all time caught the Bahrains off guarded. Their full house stadium also got the players fired up to snatch a remarkable victory over the 2004 semi-finalist.

Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi was the hero for Japan as they beat Australia 4-3 in a penalty shoutout to progress to the semifinals of the Asian Cup.

The score was 1-1 at full time when John Aloisi's 70th minute opener was cancelled out by Naohiro Takhara from close range two minutes later. Australia then played the last 14 minutes with 10 men after Vince Grella was sent off for elbowing.

Iraq secure a historic truimph after securing a memorable 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia at the Gelora Bung Karno to win the AFC Asian Cup.

Iraqi skipper, Younis Mahmoud headed his fourth goal of the tournament after capitalising on a poor goalkeeping by Yasser Al Mosailem to turn in Hawar Mohammed's corner 19 minutes from time, giving the Middle Eastern side their first ever Asian Cup.

Vietnam opened their AFC Asian Cup campaign with a thrilling 2-0 victory over the United Arab Emirates to ensure a suprise triumph over the Gulf Cup champions on Sunday.

The result overshadowed Oman near first shock of the AFC Asian Cup when substitute Tim Cahill scored an injury time equaliser as pre-tournament favourites Australia drew 1-1 with the Gulf Sultanate.