South Korea beat Portugal 2-1 to reach the World Cup round of 16 on Friday, while both Uruguay and Ghana were eliminated even though the former defeated the latter 2-0.
Ricardo Horta scored in his debut at a major tournament to give group winners Portugal the lead in the fifth minute on Friday, but Kim Young Gwon leveled in the 27th from a corner.
The draw would have eliminated the South Koreans, but in the first seconds of stoppage time, Son Heung Min led a fast counterattack to find Hwang Hee Chan, who netted the winner and fired his country into the knock-out stage on goals scored.
After the final whistle between Portugal and South Korea, there was plenty of drama as Uruguay were still playing against Ghana and needed only one goal to change the fate of Group H.
"We watched the last minutes together on the field and really wanted to make it to the next round. We were very happy," said South Korea's Jae Sung Lee said.
Ghana missed a penalty in the 21st, just like they did in the famous 2010 World Cup clash between the two sides after Luis Suarez punched out a goalbound shot.
That penalty miss cost Ghana a place in the semifinal and history repeated itself in Qatar as André Ayew's spot-kick was saved by Uruguayan keeper Sergio Rochet when the game was still 0-0.
As if that wasn't bad enough, Giorgian de Arrascaeta netted a rebound from Suarez just five minutes later and completed his brace in the 32nd with a lovely first-time finish and after another assist from Suarez.
Both of them, however, were already on the bench when South Korea scored the winner in the other game and could only watch as Uruguay failed to find a goal that would have sent them to the last 16.
This is the first time in four editions that the South American nation have failed to advance to the knock-out stages of the World Cup.
"We're very sad with the result. It wasn't up to us at the end because there were other factors," scorer Arrascaeta said.
Coach Diego Alonso said his team "gave everything" and suggested referee Daniel Siebert was the one to blame for their exit. "It's very clear what happened, that's all we can say now."
Germany's Siebert decided against awarding Uruguay a penalty after Edinson Cavani went to the ground inside the box in the first minutes of stoppage time.
In some wild scenes, Uruguayan players surrounded the referee at the end of the game, with the cameras showing Suarez in tears on the bench.
Ghana, meanwhile, could have also advanced with a win and the missed penalty will probably haunt the squad for some time.
"We will learn from this. All great achievements have also come from great defeats," coach Otto Addo said.
Portugal go through as group winners and will probably avoid Brazil in the last 16, but they were unhappy to lose at the death to the Koreans.
"It would have been better to win, we knew it was going to be complicated," Portugal defender Diogo Dalot said. "We could have controlled the game better but we can learn from that."
Coach Fernando Santos said the defeat should serve as "a wake-up call" for his team.