Teglia’s team fought from two goals down to draw 2-2 with the Jordanians thanks to a pair of goals in the final minutes, and the Argentinian was encouraged by his players’ never-say-die attitude.

“Our group is a tough group,” he said. “The teams work well, they have an outstanding collective and physically they are so strong.

“We will try to play football our way, to maintain the ball on the ground and to infiltrate the space. I saw Iraq’s game against Malaysia and they’re a strong team and only the team who will impose his playing style on the game will win.

“As always in the first match, it leaves a stamp of identity on the tournament and we showed that the Saudi team have great heart and identity, that we’ll never surrender and play with a lot of personality.”

Mohammed Jaffal, Amjed Attwan, Alaa Mwahi and Hussain Ali all found the back of the net for the Iraqis as the inaugural champions made a flying start to life in Group C of this year’s competition.

The clock had barely clicked past the five-minute mark when the Iraqis took the lead, Hamzah Adnan’s pace taking him beyond the Malaysian defence before he cut back a lofted ball that Jaffal headed firmly home.

Malaysia sought to steady themselves after the early set-back and Ong Kim Swee’s side slowly gained a foothold but, by the 28th minute, their good work was undone as Iraq doubled their advantage.

The Southeast Asian side’s defence failed to adequately clear Jaffal’s free-kick into the area and Attwan surged past the defence before unleashing a low shot that slipped beyond the grasp of goalkeeper Ifwat Akmal.

By now Iraq were in complete control, even as the Malaysians made the occasional foray into their opponents’ territory. Safawi Rashid’s long range free-kick did little to trouble Ahmed Basil while Jafri Chew’s attempt from inside the area was blocked by the Iraq defence.

A goal in each half from Baha Faisal looked set to secure all three points for Iain Brunskill’s side but goals from Abdulelah Al Amri and Rakan Al Anaze meant the teams settled for a point apiece.

Jordan took the lead just 12 minutes into the game after Ali Lajami gifted possession to Faisal midway inside the Saudi Arabia half and the 22-year-old was only too happy to take full advantage as he slipped the ball past Amin Al Bukhari to score.

The Saudis appeared to be affected by the cold, and Daniel Teglia’s side took time to find their rhythm. Abdulaziz Al Aryani threatened to open up the Jordanian defence, only for Rafat Al Rabie to drop down and snuff out the opportunity.

Mousa Suleiman was a constant threat down the right side for Jordan with the ball at his feet, and it took a sharp block from Al Bukhari to deny him in the 20th minute while, with 10 minutes remaining in the half, Yazan Al Arab’s header was also kept out.

Osama Al Khalaf was becoming increasingly influential for Saudi Arabia as the half wore on and it was his inch-perfect pass over the top of the Jordan defence that provided Sami Al Naji with his side’s best chance of the half. But Al Rabie’s quick dash off the line allowed him to block the Al Nassr midfielder’s shot.

Al Anaze came off the bench to score the injury time penalty that earned the Saudis a 2-2 draw but, despite helping his team come back from two goals down in the final five minutes, the Al Nassr midfielder was disappointed with the outcome.

"This result can't be considered good for us, the only good result is to win, but we conceded goals from mistakes so the draw is better than nothing,” he said. “We hope we can make up for this result in the coming matches.

Jordan led 2-0 going into the final five minutes plus injury time thanks to a pair of goals from Faisal, only for the Saudis to score twice ahead of the final whistle to salvage an unlikely share of the points.

Faisal was left frustrated by the result, but is confident the Jordanians will be able to bounce back in their game against Malaysia on Saturday.

"I think a draw is not a fair result,” he said. “To be leading 2-0 until the 85th minute and finish the match with a draw is not a good thing for us. The individual mistakes and the lack of concentration offensively and defensively cost us.

"But the technical staff are capable of getting the players out of this mental situation, and to prepare us mentally and physically for the match against Malaysia. We will work hard to get a win in our second match to get the three points, and then after that we will think about scoring a good number of goals to boost our goal difference situation.”

Ri Hun’s second minute goal against Thailand proved enough to secure all three points and a great start to DPR Korea’s campaign, but Ju remains pragmatic about their opponents, saying: “All the teams who have qualified for the Finals are strong teams.

“There aren’t any weak teams here, and in football matches the result is so unpredictable. All we have to do is to play our best to win the next match.”

However, while Ju admits that he is unfamiliar with the West Asians, he nevertheless fully understands the importance of the match.

“We don’t know much about Palestine and haven’t played against them before, but the next match is still going to be important for us to qualify to the knockout stage.

“But we have studied them from the Qualifiers (in July) and we are prepared.”

Palestine began the match more patient of the two teams and after conceding a goal in the 20th minute, began to play more aggressively, with Mohammed admitting the team lacked confidence in front of the goalmouth

“It was a tough game, in the first half we were a bit shaky, a bit nervous but after the goal we gained confidence and started taking it man to man,” said the 20-year-old defender, who plays for Swedish Football Division 2 side KSF Prespa Birlik.