Iran stormed into the Asian Cup quarter-finals on a wave of passionate support with a 1-0 win over Qatar in their second Group C match at Stadium Australia yesterday.

Striker Sardar Azmoun scored the only goal in the 52nd minute to send the vast majority of the 22,672 crowd home happy and the three-times champions into the last eight for the sixth straight Asian Cup.

Qatar, who had come into the tournament with high hopes after winning the Gulf Cup at the end of last year, failed to get a shot of note on target and will now go home after their final group match against Bahrain on Monday.

Iran finished the first half strongest and Sardar had already a chance to break the deadlock in the 46th minute but poked the ball wide of goal with his left foot after Qatar goalkeeper Qasem Burhan had failed to deal with a corner.

The 20-year-old made no mistake six minutes later when, receiving the ball on the edge of the box from Ashkan Dejagah, he turned defender Almahdi Ali Mukhtar brilliantly and slipped the ball past Qasem and into the net. The stadium exploded with noise and Sardar, the only change from the side that beat Bahrain 2-0 in their tournament opener on Sunday, raced to the corner to be embraced by a mob of fans.

Qatar were stung into life by the goal but were still unable to get any real penetration despite their possession their strength and technique earned them.

UAE advance

In the other Group C match, Ali Ahmed Mabkhout needed just 14 seconds to put the United Arab Emirates ahead as they went on to beat Bahrain 2-1 and secure a rare Asian Cup quarter-finals appearance.

With the Group C encounter meandering towards a 1-1 draw, Bahraini captain Mohamed Hasan deflected a 73rd minute free-kick from Amer Abdulrahman into his own net to hand the UAE a second Gulf derby victory in Canberra following their opening 4-1 win over Qatar.

It is just the third time the UAE have made the quarter-finals and first since 1996.