Abu Dhabi: The UAE will be seeking a morale-boosting performance and victory over Uzbekistan on Tuesday (5pm kick-off) in their final friendly before they defend their Gulf Cup crown in Saudi Arabia next month.

Mahdi Ali’s men are unbeaten in their four matches this season, drawing all of them, against Norway (0-0) in August, Paraguay (0-0) and Lithuania (1-1) last month and Australia (0-0) last Friday.

Yet their lack of a goal threat continues to be a glaring issue for Ali, who accused the Whites of squandering easy chances against the Socceroos last week.

However, in reality the home side created only one chance of note, Ali Mabkhout’s dinked shot after a fine run, which was cleared off the goalline by Alex Wilkinson midway through the first half.

Speaking after the stalemate, Ali said: “We had some easy chances to score but didn’t. We have to work harder and correct many things to prepare the team for the Gulf Cup.”

The UAE also struggled for fluency and creativity without their best player, playmaker Omar Abdul Rahman, who is in Spain undergoing treatment for a knee injury.

He will not be fit for Tuesday’s match at the Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium, with Esmail Mattar, Majed Hassan and Walid Abbas also sidelined with injury. All four players are expected to be fit for the Gulf Cup, however.

The UAE can derive confidence from the fact that Uzbekistan have their own problems up front, having failed to score in their last two friendlies, a 3-0 defeat to Qatar last week and a 0-0 draw with Bahrain on Saturday.

The two sides shared the spoils 1-1 when they last met in March in qualifying for the Asian Cup in January.

“We had a lot of chances to score, but couldn’t use them. We have spoken about this problem many times,” said Uzbekistan coach Mirdjalal Kasimov afterwards.

Their main goal threat is captain and midfielder Server Djeparov, who is currently their leading scorer with 22 goals in 101 internationals.

After this friendly, the UAE head to Saudi Arabia for the Gulf Cup of Nations between November 13 and 26.

The UAE won the tournament in January 2013, when they beat Iraq 2-1 in the final thanks to goals from Abdul Rahman and Esmail Al Hammadi.

They are in Group B of the event this time around, alongside 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.