The hard-fought win, which came courtesy of a first-half Park Chu-young penalty, kept South Korea in top of Group Three with eight points from four matches.

"It was a precious three points for us," said Park after the match. "But personally, I am not satisfied with the way I played.

"It is always tough to come to the Middle-East, the environment, the culture, the referees etc are different. Most teams find it tough."

A win at bottom-placed Turkmenistan on Saturday will send the Koreans into the final stage of qualification.

"Although we are confident for the Turkmenistan game after beating the team 4-0 in Seoul but we need to be careful and get the three points we need to secure our advancement."