Jeddah: Given South Korea's subpar performances in the group stage of the top Asian men's under-23 football tournament in Saudi Arabia, head coach Lee Min-sung admitted Friday his team's appearance in the quarterfinals was "an opportunity sent from heaven." And he believes his players will make the most of that with a much better showing this weekend.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Lee's South Korea will face Australia in the quarterfinals of the Asian Football Confederation U-23 Asian Cup at King Abdullah Sports City Hall Stadium in Jeddah. The kick-off is 6:30 p.m. Saturday (local time), or 12:30 a.m. Sunday (South Korean time).

South Korea advanced to the quarterfinals despite losing to Uzbekistan 2-0 in their final Group C match Tuesday. South Korea finished with four points from one win, one draw, and one loss, having earlier played Iran to a goalless draw and defeated Lebanon 4-2. South Korea grabbed the knockout ticket when Lebanon, already eliminated with two straight losses, upset Iran 1-0 on Tuesday, when an Iran victory would have knocked South Korea out of the tournament.

"For us to come to the quarterfinals despite our poor record in the group stage, it's really an opportunity sent from heaven," Lee said at his prematch press conference Friday. "We will try to come together as a team and play a good match against Australia."

South Korea dominated ball possession against Uzbekistan but managed just one shot on target. All four of their goals in the group stage came in one match and even against the underdog Lebanon, South Korea's defense looked leaky at best while their attack wasn't as sharp as the score indicated.

Lee insisted what his players have shown so far isn't close to who they really are. "In those three matches, we failed to connect on a lot of passes, but I think our players are better than that. It was just a case of these players unable to overcome pressure," the coach said. "I think they have been able to shake off that pressure, now with three matches in the books. Against Australia, we've been working on making better passes and attacking space behind the defense. I think we will have a good match."

Lee said Australia features players with a great sense of positioning who can also bring physicality to the table. "We will have to rely on our speed and be more aggressive," Lee said. "Some players might not have had enough confidence coming into this tournament, and I will try to help them gain some of that against Australia, so that we can go even higher."

Midfielder Bae Hyun-seo said he and his teammates lacked focus on small details in training during the group stage and it showed in the way they played. "I think our attitude has changed in our preparation for the quarterfinals," Bae said. "I think things will be different this time compared to the group stage."

Australia won Group D with two victories and a loss. Their head coach Antony Vidmar said his team had been "improving in all areas" with each passing game and he looked forward to taking on "a good opposition" in South Korea. "They have good individual players. They work very well collectively in possession. They want to dominate the game with possession," he said. "They try to hurt you in behind and they've got many creative players but also defensively, they're very well organized, the way they press and the way they counterpress. So it's going to be an intriguing game."

Australia had a goalless draw and a 2-0 win over South Korea in back-to-back friendlies played in South Korea last June. Vidmar recalled those were "two very interesting games" and added, "I don't expect anything less than that tomorrow night."