The green and gold will be tested by their Asian Cup hosts
Australia will be out to send their 2019 Asian Cup hosts packing as they face off against the UAE in their quarter-final clash at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on Saturday at 3am (AEDT).
Both teams were forced to extra-time in their Round of 16 matches with the Socceroos seeing off Uzbekistan on penalties and the UAE edging Kyrgyzstan 3-2.
The UAE will be out for some revenge against the green and gold having fallen to Australia in the semi-finals of the 2015 Asian Cup and are yet to beat the Socceroos across their past five meetings.
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TV Channel, Live Stream & How To Watch
In Australia, the match can be watched live on Fox Sports through the Foxtel platform. There is no free-to-air broadcaster.
You can stream the game through either the Foxtel Go, Foxtel Play and Kayo – just bear in mind those services are subscription based.
Squads & Team News
A second yellow card of the tournament will see Tom Rogic sidelined for the quarter-final and force Graham Arnold into a reshuffle.
Mathew Leckie is fit again and could replace Chris Ikonomidis out wide with the Perth Glory attacker shifted into the middle to replace Rogic. Massimo Luongo could also be brought back into the starting side.
The only other possible change to the team could see Jamie Maclaren replaced as striker after he struggled to have an impact against Uzbekistan.
Socceroos predicted XI: Ryan; Behich, Degenek, Sainsbury, Grant; Milligan, Irvine; Ikonomidis, Mabil, Leckie; Giannou.
UAE’s star playmaker Omar Abdulrahman was ruled out of the tournament through an ACL injury but veteran striker Ismail Matar managed to overcome his own fitness concerns. Ali Mabkhout and substitute Ahmed Khalil have proven their attacking talent so far at the tournament and will be players the Socceroos must watch out for. Khalid Essa will start between the sticks for the UAE but was shaky last time out against Kyrgyzstan.
Betting & Match Odds
Australia enter this match as $1.90 favourites with a UAE victory valued at $4.33.
Despite both sides needing extra time in their last matches, the market suggests this one will be decided in normal time with odds of $6.50 for the game to be decided after 90 minutes.
A 1-0 win for Australia is the most likely result valued at $3.50.
All odds courtesy of Bet365 and correct at the time of publishing.
Match Preview
Four years after the Socceroos defeated the UAE 2-0 in the 2015 Asian Cup semi-finals, the two nations meet again in a quarter-final clash – this time on The Whites’ soil.
While undefeated in their past six matches, the UAE haven’t hit any great heights at this tournament drawing with Bahrain and Thailand in the group stages before scraping past Kyrgyzstan.
Australia have been far from convincing themselves having lost their group opener against Jordan before beating Palestine and Syria to secure a Round of 16 clash with Uzbekistan
The green and gold were pushed all the way to penalties in that game after failing to score across 120 minutes and they must deliver a much better performance against a UAE side playing in front of their own.
With Tom Rogic suspended, the Socceroos must find someone else to spark an attack that never really got going against Uzbekistan.
The UAE are yet to score across their five meetings with Australia and have also lost their past three encounters – a run they’ll be desperate to reverse on home soil as they attempt to exact some Asian Cup revenge four years later.