The 2020 champions, with over 70 percent possession and 16 shots in total, struggled to breach UAE’s defence until Lee Young-jun’s dramatic header in added time clinched the victory.

“In any tournament, the first match is always difficult as there are a lot of variants, which was the case today,” said Hwang. “We had a very difficult match today, but the players’ determination and willingness to win made it happen.

“In the second half, we made a change to our attacking plan. We tried to exploit the half space zones in the attacking third but our efforts were not effective and did not live up to my expectations. The players, however, still played according to my game plan, and I would like to praise them for that.”

Player of the match Young-jun was happy that Korea Republic’s focus on set-pieces in training led to him scoring the winner.

“We trained for set-pieces and I am very happy we scored from what we prepared for,” said Young-jun. “I did not score this goal by myself, it was all about the teamwork, and I’m very happy for that.

“I also want to thank my teammate (Lee) Tae-sok for giving me such a beautiful cross.”

UAE head coach Marcelo Broli also praised his team’s ability to perform under pressure and demonstrate their organisational strength.

“From the beginning, everything was going according to plan and as expected, but it was only till the last minutes that things changed and weren’t in our favour,” Broli said.

“We made it very difficult for Korea Republic by being very well organised. Korea Republic are known for their love of possession football and we were able to stop them from playing the way they wanted to play.

“I would also like to note that Korea Republic have been working together for quite some time, they’re used to working with each other, which was not available to us.”

Korea Republic meet China PR next on Friday while UAE will look to refine their strategies before facing 2016 champions Japan.