2007 was one of the best years of Mahmoud 's career ; he scored 1 goal in the 2007 WAFF Championship where Iraq finished as runners-up , and he scored 4 goals in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup including the winning goal in the final as Iraq won their 1st ever Asian Cup . Mahmoud won the top scorer award and the MVP award in the tournament , and finished 2nd place in the 2007 Asian Footballer of the Year award and 29th place in the 2007 Ballon d'Or vote , becoming the 1st Iraqi player in history to be nominated for the prestigious Ballon d'Or award . 2 years later , he won his final trophy for Iraq , the 2009 UAE International Cup , and that year he also participated in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup , playing all 3 of Iraq 's games and scoring an offside goal against New Zealand which was rightly disallowed
2007 Ballon d'Or
2007 Ballon d'Or
Younis Mahmoud