A'ala Hubail became an instant hero when his hat-trick fired Bahrain into the semi-finals of the Asian Cup.

A'ala Hubail scored both his country's goals in regular time time then sank the penalty winner at a packed Chengdu Stadium, south-west China.

Bahrain, who were eliminated in the preliminary round at their only previous Asian Cup appearance in 1988, will now face the winner of Saturday's quarter-final match between Japan and Jordan on 3 August.

Uzbekistan's Alexander Geynrikh opened the scoring with a 30-yard free kick (59).

Bahrain equalized 11 minutes later when substitute Husain Ali chipped a long pass from Salmeen to A'ala Hubail to score.

They then went went ahead when Mohamed Hubail capitalised on an Uzbek defensive error and passed to Mohamed Salmeen, who centered the ball for A'ala Hubail to knock in.

But Vladimir Shishelov hit back in the 86th minute, slotting a near-perfect forward pass from Geynrikh past sprawling Bahraini goalkeeper Ali Saeed.

After two scoreless periods of extra time, Uzbek substitutes Marat Bikmoev and Leonid Koshelev put their penalty shots wide.

Mohamed Juma had earlier missed Bahrain's second penalty after Uzbekistan's keeper Evgene Safanov guessed correctly and shifted to his left to block the ball.

Other result: China 3-0 Iraq

China joined Bahrain in the last four with a hard-fought win, which was marred by a 20-man brawl and the sending off of the Iraqi goalkeeper.

Goals from veteran forward Hao Haidong and two penalties by defensive lynchpin Zheng Zhi ensured the hosts of victory.

But the game deteriorated towards the end as Iraqi frustrations boiled over.

A challenge by Qusay Munir on Manchester City's Sun Jihai led to a mid-pitch ruck, while goalkeeper Ahmed Ali was given his marching orders in the closing minutes for appearing to aim a headbutt at Sun.

Remaining quarter-finals: Japan v Jordan (31 July), South Korea v Iran (31 July).