The hosts found Iraq too hot to handle after taking an early lead with a splendid strike by the profusely talented Alvito D'Cunha in the seventh minute.

The Arabs, took the energy-sapping heat and humidity in their stride, quelled the hosts' buoyancy in the early stages of the match and equalised through a penalty by Haitham Jasim (two goals) before opening the floodgates.

Impressive mid-fielder Riyadh Khirsebit shot the Iraqis 2-1 ahead before half-time. Jasim, Omar Uthman and substitute Abbas Hasun then turned the match into a `no contest'.

The ease with which the victory was achieved surprised Iraq coach Sirjul Hurieb, who spoke through an interpreter. ``We saw India's seniors at the Nehru Cup last year in Kochi and expected the juniors to cause us some problems today,'' Hurieb said. ``The onlyproblem we faced today was from the heat and humidity that our players found difficult adjusting to.

``Once, the sun began to set in the second half, the conditions positively affected the psychology of our players,'' he added.

Hurieb was far from happy with his team's display, especially with his strikers, who he felt should have done far better despite the windfall of goals.

India's Slovenian coach, Ivo Sajh-Sohsich resigned himself to making do with the best at his disposal while flaying nine players who did not attend the preparatory camp after being invited. Sajh-Sohsich said: ``there's not much we can achieve without discipline. I've asked for action to be taken against such players.''

The Indian coach found just two of his wards impressive -- hard-working mid-fielder S Venkatesh of Salgaocar and best goal-keeper at the last National Football League, Kalyan Chaubey of East Bengal, who put up a spectacular display. D'Cunha, although, sparkling in the mid-field lacked support to be a significantthreat to the composed Iraqi defence.

But as India began effervescently, D'Cunha beat Firas Ali in grand style before slotting past goalkeeper Ali Kadhim from just inside the area.

India's winning against leading exponents in Asian soccer at any level appeared too good to be true, especially since the hosts appeared to be expending too much in attack in oppressive conditions.

Surely enough, the inevitable occurred as the Indian defence panicked frequently to judicious Iraqi forays.

A match, devoid of yellow cards, produced a penalty awarded by Maldivean referee Ali Salim in the 26th minute. Defender Falguni Datta brought down Omar Uthman and Jasim sent Chaubey the wrong way before dispatching the ball to the right corner of the goal.

Iraq, now well in control, threatened through Khirsebit before the mid-fielder made amends in the 37th minute with a header from Abdul Waheed's corner to forge his side ahead.

Defying the heat with a show of boundless energy, mid-fielder Abbas Zayer paved way forIraq's third seven minutes after the interval. A through pass presented Jasim a chance for his second goal and the striker finished efficiently, shooting over Chaubey on the run.

Chaubey was helpless again when Uthman scored from close on the hour to make it 4-1 before passing the baton to Hasun, so to say.

The substitute added to India's misery in the 73rd minute, side-stepping Indian defender Hussain Mustaffi before finding the net past the unfortunate Chaubey.

Uzbekistan, the only other team in the competition arrived in Margao today. The Central Asian oufit meets Iraq on Thursday. Bangladesh's late withdrawal has reduced the third edition of the tournament, opened by Goa Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane to a three-nation affair.

Rumania had won the inaugural Rajiv Gandhi Trophy in 1991 at Jamshedpur while Republic of Korea the second at Hyderabad in 1994.