The Saudis showed commendable resilience to record their first ever Asian Cup victory over the Japanese with a 3-2 scoreline after Ivica Osim's side had twice equalised.

Yasser Al Qahtani's 35th-minute goal gave the Saudis the lead, which lasted just two minutes as defender Yuji Nakazawa headed the back-to-back champions back on level terms.

Malek Maaz took advantage of some slack defending from Nakazawa and Yuki Abe to restore his side's advantage just two minutes after the interval, but Abe redeemed himself in the 53rd minute with a superb volley that should have give Japan the initiative.

However, Malek skipped past Nakazawa with alarming ease as the man of the match fired home the winner in the 57th minute.

"Tonight we saw a very tough game and one of the best in the tournament so far," said Dos Anjos.

"I am very happy with the victory because it was over one of the best teams in the continent, especially when they have possession of the ball."

Dos Anjos, who is coaching outside of his homeland for the first time, was equally pleased with the contribution of his backroom staff, as his boys from Brazil made sure the Saudi players were in peak condition for the tournament.

"We told the (Saudi Arabian) federation that I would bring the best fitness and medical staff from Gremio club in Brazil and even though we had less time to prepare for this match and trouble travelling from Jakarta, tonight was the fruit of their labour," he added.

The 49-year-old, who took over the Saudi Arabian coaching reigns from compatriot Marcos Paqueta in March, must next test his tactical mettle against another Brazilian, after Jorvan Vieira's Iraq ousted South Korea on penalties to set up an all-Arab final.

"Today was a victory for Arabian football, especially for Iraq because everyone knows what is happening there. These victories will bring happiness to the people of Iraq and of Saudi Arabia," Dos Santos continued.

"It is nice also that while the two finalists are from the Arab school they are both being coached by Brazilians."

Japan coach Osim admitted fatigue took its toll as his players attempted to battle back from going a goal down on three occasions.

"I'd like to congratulate our Japanese players, who did well," he said. "They played with all their might to the very end.

"But unfortunately, their fatigue overwhelmed them, which happened especially to our key players.

"When you are tired, you tend to be slow with creating some ideas."

The former Yugoslavia coach, however, denied that his side were inferior to their opponents.

He added: "We levelled the game twice but couldn't do it three times.

"But I never thought we were inferior to our opponents. If you look at the game, we created far more chances than they did. But they [Saudi Arabia] were lucky.

"Saudi Arabia scored three goals on three chances, which we gave away when we lost our concentration."