Ahmad Ibrahim (pictured above) opened the scoring in the 22nd minute for the West Asians, but China made sure they went into the break level as star striker Wu Lei equalised two minutes before the half-time whistle.

However, it was 2007 AFC Asian Cup winners Iraq who prevailed, courtesy of Ali’s goal in the 69th minute.

"The Iraqi league is now on a break for 40 days, 20 days for the training camp in Qatar and 20 days for the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 - this is a vital time for the national side," says the man who skippered the side at the 2000 AFC Asian Cup in Lebanon.

"Because our domestic league is not at its strongest level in recent times, I feel the players may find it difficult to raise their game to match the standard of the Asian Cup."

Although he has never played his club football abroad, Wu Lei is widely regarded as one of the top players to have emerged from China PR over the past decade. His two nominations of the AFC Player of the Year award - he finished third in both 2016 and 2017 - are testament to his status in Asian football.

Nationality: China PR
Date of birth: 19/11/1991
Position: Winger
Current club: Shanghai SIPG
Previous clubs: None

In the squad named by head coach Alberto Zaccheroni, 2015 AFC Player of the Year Ahmed Khalil and Ali Makbhout will be leading the charge for goals in a team that will be missing the talismanic Omar Abdulrahman.

Abdulrahman was ruled out earlier after suffering a season ending knee injury in October.

Jeggo, 26, has been playing regularly in the Austrian Bundesliga for his club FK Austria Wien this season and will add a defensive option to Graham Arnold’s midfield mix for the tournament.

Socceroos head coach Arnold said: “James has been performing really well in Austria and is a fantastic character, so we are very happy to have him join the squad. Initially James was very unlucky to miss out on the squad, but sometimes these things happen in football and we are glad we can provide him with this opportunity.

"James has thrived at club level playing in a defensive midfield role and with three attacking central midfielders already in the squad, we felt we needed someone with James’ attributes to provide some depth in that area.”

Annadurdyyew was the team's top goal scorer with eight goals in Altyn Asyr's historic run to the 2018 AFC Cup final. The versatile forward was equally important at the national team level, finishing as the side's joint-top scorer in the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 qualifiers.

Nationality: Turkmenistan Date of birth: 13/04/1993 Position: Forward Current club: Altyn Asyr Previous clubs: FC Ahal

Park Kyung-ho was part of the Korea Republic side that claimed the first-ever AFC Asian Cup. Here, he relives his memories of that historic tournament.