  We prove a Krieger like embedding theorem for asymptotically expansive
systems with the small boundary property. We show that such a system $(X; T)$
embeds in the $K$-full shift with $h_{top}(T) < \log K $ and $\sharp Per_n(X;
T) \leq \sharp Per_n(\{1,...,K\}^{\mathbb{Z}};\sigma)$ for any integer $n$. The
embedding is in general not continuous (unless the system is expansive and $X$
is zero-dimensional) but the induced map on the set of invariant measures is a
topological embedding. It is shown that this property implies asymptotical
expansiveness. We prove also that the inverse of the embedding map may be
continuously extended to a faithful principal symbolic extension.
