South Korea beat Kyrgyzstan 5-1 to progress to the quarterfinals of the men's football tournament at the Asian Games in China on Wednesday.

VfB Stuttgart midfielder Jeong Woo-yeong scored a brace, while Paik Seung-ho, Cho Young-wook and Hong Hyun-seok contributed a goal apiece for a breezy win at Jinhua Sports Centre Stadium in Jinhua, southwest of the main host city of Hangzhou.

In the quarterfinals on Sunday, South Korea will face China at 8 p.m. at Huanglong Sports Centre Stadium in Hangzhou.

Coached by Hwang Sun-hong, South Korea are chasing an unprecedented third straight gold in men's football.

Paik opened the scoring with a penalty on 11 minutes, after Seol Young-woo was tripped up by Baiaman Kumarbai.

Jeong headed in a cross by Um Won-sang to double South Korea's lead in the very next minute.

South Korea conceded their first goal of the tournament in the 28th minute, with Maksat Alygulov taking advantage of Paik's turnover in his own zone.

Seol drew another penalty when his attempted cross hit Arslan Bekberdinov's hand in the box, and Jeong Woo-yeong converted the ensuing spot kick on 74 minutes.

Cho made it 4-1 South Korea four minutes later, and Hong rounded out the scoring in the 85th minutes after Song Min-kyu's shot attempt bounced off a defender.

Despite the lopsided scoring, coach Hwang said he wasn't pleased with the goal South Korea gave up.

"Football is all about momentum. When you have it on your side, you have to finish off your opponent. Otherwise, you will end up giving up opportunities," Hwang said. "We were too loose after scoring the first two goals. We made too many mistakes. I hope we won't play another match like this."

China will be up next, and South Korea have some bad recent memories of facing China.

Hwang's team visited Jinhua in June to play two friendlies against China, as part of their prep for the Asian Games. South Korea struggled against an overly physical China, and some players, including midfielder Um Won-sang and forward Cho Young-wook, suffered injuries that could have derailed their Asian Games buildup.

"We expected China to make it this far. And if we can't overcome the hostile crowd and rough playing, then we won't be able to win the gold medal," Hwang said. "We have three more steps to take to win the gold medal and no one can stop us."

Source: Yonhap News Agency