Captain Abbosbek Makhstaliev opened the scoring in the 16th minute and though Uzbekistan dominated from then on, Australia managed to snatch an equaliser two minutes before the break through Riley Woodcock.

Despite that set back the home side maintained their superiority after the break and embarked upon wave-after-wave of attack, but it looked as though Australia had done enough to take the game to extra time.

However, Makhstaliev steered the ball home with a minute left on the clock to send Uzbekistan through to the final and the home fans delirious.

And Evstafeev (pictured) not only praised the spirit and determination of his players but also believes they can become stars of the future if they continue to develop as they have.

“I hope they can become great football players for our country but it depends on them only,” he said.

“Sometimes players play well at this age but cannot after a couple of years but it is a big hope of mine that they can play for the senior national team in the future.”

It certainly took all of their fledgling ability to secure the victory they needed against Australia and even as the game eked towards extra time, Evstafeev never lost faith that his players could find the winner.

He added: “It is a great pleasure to win such an important game. We played very well today and we had a lot of chances to score.

“Of course I believed we could score in the last minute. I didn’t know it for fact but I had belief.

“The last-minute goal was very important for us, we hoped we could win and we did it."

It was a late rally against the United Arab Emirates that carried Australia to victory in their semi-final but there was to be no repeat of that feat in this game.

The Joeys were second best for the vast majority of the match and continually struggled to deal with Makhstaliev while the vociferous home crowd clearly had their effect on the players’ confidence.

“Uzbekistan is a real football country with so many people that support their team,” said coach Jan Versleijen.

“They (Uzbekistan) tried to press from the start and did not let us play our own game and they did that very well.

“It was a team result from them as they kept the pressure on us and they kept giving Makhstaliev the opportunities.

“If Uzbekistan play like they did today in front of the same crowd, which will probably be even bigger for the final, then they have a very good chance to win this championship.”