Iraq heaped the early pressure with Chinese Taipei custodian Chiang Hsin-Wei having to produce finger tip saves to deny Haedr Majed and Salim Faisal inside the opening eight minutes.

The East Asian side carried a threat of their own through forward Lin Chih-Hung, who shot wide in the 13th minute before turning away from Tareq Zeyad four minutes later but saw his shot blocked by Hussein Ahmed.

That the match remained goalless at the break was largely down to Lin’s heroics, making back-to-back saves to prevent Salim Kadhim’s effort and then Harith Alobaidi’s follow-up before pushing away Kadhim’s powerful strike that looked destined for the top corner.

The second half began with a deflected Majed shot which hit the post with Iraq finally finding the breakthrough in the 24th minute.

A free-kick routine saw Ghaith Riyadh using Faisal as a decoy before teeing up Majed for a low shot which settled in the bottom corner to put Iraq ahead.

Iraq piled on the pressure and were rewarded with their second in the 28th minute, Mustafa Ihsan's back-heel was collected by Kadhim who scooped home from close range.

Chinese Taipei’s desperation to find a way back into the game saw them leaving gaps in defence as Iraq punished them with late goals from Majed (37th) and Faisal (39th) to settle the contest.