Kasra Taheri, whose two goals to date in the tournament were both set up by Nima Andarz, returned the favour in the 18th minute. His flick-on fell into the path of the rampaging right-back, whose low drive squirmed underneath Hong to break the deadlock.

Barely 60 seconds later, it was 2-0. A brilliant backheel from Gholizadeh nutmegged an opponent and found Mahan Sadeghi, who took a touch before leathering the ball across Hong and into the top right corner. The winger became the sixth Iranian to find the back of the net in this tournament - no other team has had more different scorers.

Korea’s only two efforts on target of the half came via long-range efforts from full-backs Lee Su-ro and Seo Jeong-hyeok, which summed up their lack of potency.