Abu Dhabi: A fourth draw in a row and a clean sheet into the bargain — such statistics are justifiable grounds for optimism for Mahdi Ali and his UAE side, particularly against a side which appeared at the World Cup in the summer.
Yet Friday night’s stalemate with Australia in a friendly at Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium highlighted that a major concern persists about the Whites’ lack of a cutting edge.
Abdul Aziz Sanqour’s late leveller against Lithuania in a 1-1 draw in Austria last month is their only goal in the four recent friendlies — the UAE also having shared the spoils with Norway and Paraguay in respective 0-0 draws this season.
This barren run is something Ali will hope to address in another home friendly, against Uzbekistan on Tuesday night, as they step up preparations for their Gulf Cup of Nations defence in Saudi Arabia next month.
Ali later lamented that his side had missed “easy chances”, but in reality only one opportunity fell into this category — Ali Mabkhout’s dinked finish being cleared away from near the goal-line by Alex Wilkinson midway through the first half.
“Apart from one [UAE] chance, we didn’t really feel threatened at all,” said Australia coach, Ange Postecoglou, to emphasise home side’s impotency in attack.
“I guess that is a positive but, from our perspective, we want to keep progressing our overall play and I thought we did that but just lacked the cutting edge up front.”
The dour encounter was also memorable for those who were absent; the UAE badly missed the guile of injured playmaker Omar Abdul Rahman while Australia’s most illustrious player, Tim Cahill, made only a fleeting appearance from the substitutes’ bench.
Sydney FC striker Bernie Ibini-Isei made his debut in place of 35-goal top scorer Cahill, who was nursing a minor hamstring complaint, and was lively without being overly effective.
Cahill, who received a rousing reception from the visiting support when he entered the fray 14 minutes from time, headed over soon after joining the action.
It was that kind of night for both sides, with wayward finishing and a lack of precision to the fore, which was summed up when UAE winger Esmail Al Hammadi blasted over the bar from the edge of the box after a weaving run in the second half.
Apart from the industrious Mabkhout, the UAE forwards were well below par - although Ali pointed to lack of preparation time and a hectic recent Arabian Gulf League schedule to defend his side’s lacklustre display.
Postecoglou, meanwhile, blamed his side’s failure to register on the scoresheet on a new forward line of Ibini-Isei and Bayer Leverkusen’s Robbie Kruse, who was playing his first international since knee reconstruction surgery in January.
The UAE’s next friendly against Uzbekistan is their final match before they head to Saudi Arabia to try and defend their Gulf Cup title next month.
The defending champions are in Group B of the event, where they will play Oman, Kuwait and Iraq.
They will then play friendlies against Jordan on December 31 and Kuwait on January 4 before the Asian Cup in Australia from January 11, where they have been drawn in Group C with Iran, Qatar and Bahrain.
