MELBOURNE, Australia (Yonhap) ― South Korea’s quest to end a 55-year title drought at the AFC Asian Cup will enter the knockout phase this week, as the country prepares to take on Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals.

The kickoff at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium between the 69th-ranked South Korea and 71st-ranked Uzbekistan will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, or 4:30 p.m. in Seoul.

South Korea had the top seed in Group A with three 1-0 victories over Oman, Kuwait and host Australia.

Uzbekistan finished second in Group B behind China, after beating North Korea and Saudi Arabia, and losing to China. Uzbekistan scored five goals and gave up three.

Korea has eight wins, one loss and two draws against Uzbekistan so far, but has had some trouble in recent matches.

During the Asian qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, South Korea was held to a 2-2 draw on the road in September 2012, and then eked out a 1-0 win at home in June 2013 on an own goal by Uzbekistan.

Coached by Uli Stielike, South Korea has lost two players from its original 23-man roster to injuries. Midfielder Lee Chung-yong suffered a leg fracture in the opener against Oman while another midfielder, Koo Ja-cheol, tore a ligament in his right elbow in a fall during the group finale against Australia.

Some other players had bouts of cold that kept them out of the lineup against Kuwait. Stielike has been forced to juggle his lineup, and third-string goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong remains the only player who has yet to take the field at the tournament so far.

Winger Son Heung-min was one of the sick players last week. He came off the bench against Australia, and will need to pick up the slack with both Lee and Koo, his usual partners on the secondary line of attack, out of the picture.

Nam Tae-hee, who scored the winner against Kuwait as an injury replacement for Lee, will likely see more time, either in Lee’s usual spot on the right wing or in the attacking midfielder position that Koo used to occupy.

Kim remains work in progress

South Korean goalkeeper Kim Jin-hyeon has emerged as the team’s new No. 1 man in goal at the ongoing AFC Asian Cup, thanks to two consecutive clean-sheet victories. Yet the 27-year-old said Tuesday that he remains a work in progress.

“I still have a lot of room for improvement,” Kim said ahead of the team’s practice at Lakeside Stadium in preparation for Thursday’s quarterfinals match against Uzbekistan. “I want to address my shortcomings the best I can and help the team even more.”

Prior to the continental tournament, Kim had appeared in just four international matches and had conceded six goals. Yet two of those appearances had come under head coach Uli Stielike, who took over South Korea in October.

Stielike named Kim one of his three goalkeepers, along with two World Cup veterans, Kim Seung-gyu and Jung Sung-ryong. Kim Jin-hyeon started the first group match against Oman, and made a spectacular save in the dying moments to preserve the 1-0 victory.

A bout of cold kept him out of the lineup against Kuwait, but Kim came back to blank Australia 1-0 to help South Korea clinch the top seed in Group A.

Kim has been bailing out his defenders since the tournament began, and he said he will go back to the drawing board with his teammates on defense to make sure they don’t repeat the same mistakes.

With the knockout stage around the corner, there’s even less margin for error for South Korea.

“We all know a loss will spell the end for us,” Kim said. “We shouldn’t be feeling too much pressure because of that, but we have to maintain our focus from the start to finish.”