"In the next match you will see a more organised Iraqi team who play modern football, as we will enter the match against Bahrain with the intent to win,” Qasim told the-AFC.com. “We hope luck will be on our side.

"The result against Australia is a positive result, as the Australian team is organised and is a high level team, but we were up to the task against them.”

Iraq have a strong record at this level having finished in third place at the AFC U23 Championship in Qatar in 2016 to qualify for the Olympic Games and Qasem has set his sights on making as much of an impact on this year’s tournament as possible.

And that begins with aiming to claim first place in Group A, which also features hosts Thailand and Bahrain.

"My ambition in this tournament is that we get the top spot in our group and that we continue as far as possible in the competition," he said.

"I am grateful that I managed to score in our first match and I thank my teammates who helped me to score this goal because as a player you can't score individually without their help.”