The United Arab Emirates capped off what has been a ground-breaking Asian Cup tournament for the small Gulf nation, with a 3-2 win over Iraq on Friday to clinch a third place finish.

In the relatively meaningless play off for third place, UAE and Iraq put on a thrilling penultimate game of the tournament in Newcastle, north of Sydney.

It was the UAE who took the early initiative in the game, going ahead after 15 minutes through Ahmed Khalil. Khalil was played in on goal by the team's top performer, Omar Abdulrahman, to cap off a blistering counter-attack.

With Abdulrahman pulling the strings as he has done for the majority of the tournament, the UAE looked in control. However, this game had much more to come.

On 28 minutes the momentum swung towards Iraq when Waleed Salim's deflected shot from inside the box looped over goalkeeper Khalid Eisa and into the back of the net.

A change in momentum

The Iraqis then completely turned the game around three minutes before half-time, winger Amjed Kalaf knocking in a rebound from close range after Eisa parried Ahmed Yaseen's powerful shot.

Iraq would then rue missed chances when, after 51 minutes, UAE's Abdulrahman chipped a trademark ball over the defence to Khalil, who again finished with real confidence to make it 2-2.

Then, UAE soon went 3-2 ahead when Ali Mabkhout scored a penalty on 57 minutes, after being knocked over in the box by Ahmed Ibrahim. The Iraqi was sent off in the process.

Ten-man Iraq worked tirelessly for an equaliser in the remaining half-hour, but the UAE secured the win to end the tournament on a high. Ali Mabkhout now has a strong chance of being crowned top scorer in the Asian Cup, although Australia's Tim Cahill will go into Saturday's final on three goals, two behind the UAE striker.

acp/al (AFP, AP)