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ON THE PODIUM: Ali Ahmed Mabkhout (left) of the United Arab Emirates celebrates a goal with team-mate Omar Abdulrahman after beating Iraq in the third-place match at the Asian Cup.

The United Arab Emirates secured third place in the Asian Cup defeating Iraq 3-2 on Friday night in a spirited encounter at Newcastle's Hunter Stadium.

The match had a little bit of everything including a red card, some sublime passing from UAE star Omar Abdulrahman and a likely Golden Boot-securing penalty from Ali Mabkhout but the difference was the brace from fellow UAE striker Ahmed Khalil who scored goals either side of halftime.

It was all the UAE and Khalil who dominated early in front of 12,829 fans and he had a great chance inside the first 10 minutes but couldn't put the header on target.

He made up for that in the 16th minute when Mabkhout stole possession at halfway and slipped a ball to Abdulrahman who took it in his stride before slipping a perfectly weighted pass to Khalil who duly beat the onrushing Mohammed Hameed in the Iraq goal.

Just three minutes later, Iraq nearly had the equaliser when Younus Mahmood's deflected shot hit the crossbar before his follow-up chip was tipped over by Khalid Eisa in the UAE goal.

The game had turned and Iraq dominated the rest of the first half, scoring first through Waleed Salim, who blasted straight through Eisa to level the scores on 28 minutes, before UAE were made to pay for a silly challenge by Abdulrahman just before the break.

Iraq moved the ball quickly from the free-kick and, when Eisa spilled a long-range shot from Mahdi Kamil Shiltagh, Amjed Kalaf Al-Muntafik was there to tap in and give Iraq a 2-1 lead at halftime.

Iraq started the second half as they finished the first and threatened the UAE goal - until, against the run of play, Khalil scored his second.

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UAE defeat Iraq 3-2 for third place at Asian Cup