Salem Aldawsari scored in the 22nd minute and Al Hilal beat Pachuca 2-0 on Thursday night to clinch a berth in the Club World Cup round of 16.
Marcus Leonardo also scored for Al Hilal, the only team outside Europe and the Americas to advance out of group play.
Al Hilal will next face English club Manchester City on Monday in Orlando, Florida.
Aldawsari, attacking from the left, scored with the ball bouncing off his right foot and soaring over the head of Pachuca goalie Sebastian Jurado to the right side of the goal.
The game drew 14,147 to Geodis Park, which has a capacity of 30,000, The Associated Press reported.
As Pachuca kept trying to keep the pace up, Leonardo scored his first goal of the tournament in the last minute of extra time, dribbling swiftly past Jurado and sending a left-footed shot in to secure Al Hilal's spot in the round of 16.
Al Hilal is the second team from Group H to move on, as Real Madrid clinched through a 3-0 victory against RB Salzburg.
Pachuca ended the tournament winless.
“Every player wants to score, my goal was ambitious, and scoring was the cherry on top,” said Aldawsari.
Al-Hilal coach Simone Inzaghi said: "Our goal was to achieve (being in) the group of the best teams in the world.
"It was not an easy task, but the team was well united. It fought during the three games for a great objective ... we were not coming here just to have fun, we were coming here to play a World Cup and we wanted to reach this stage.
"Now we'll have to play against Manchester City ... it's one of the greatest teams in the world. These are the games where you can improve and you can mature as a team, so I'm very proud."
