ABU DHABI // There may have been no goals and little entertainment at the Mohammed bin Zayed stadium on Friday night, but that did not prevent Mahdi Ali from being encouraged by what he saw.
Click here to view a photo gallery from the match
The UAE coach was looking at his side’s preparations for their Gulf Cup defence next month, and a competitive, if uninspiring, encounter against a side who were one of the 32 sides at the World Cup finals in the summer in Brazil gave him cause for optimism.
"It was a good game, especially against Australia as they are coming after a good World Cup campaign," he said. "They are in the process of building a team for the Asian Cup under a new coach."
The one frustration for Mahdi Ali was his side failing to find the net, with Ali Mabkhout going closest for the UAE as he had an effort cleared off the line by Alex Wilkinson, the Australian centre-half, in the first half.
Mahdi Ali said that was something he would look to work on before the start of the Gulf Cup, which takes place in Saudi Arabia from November 13 to 26, with another friendly to come against Uzbekistan on Tuesday at the same venue as last night.
“We had some easy chances to score and this is an area we have to work on ahead of the Gulf Cup, for which we will have a 14-day camp to prepare,” he said.
“We had just three days to prepare for this game and I am quite satisfied with the performance.”
The UAE defence looked solid for most of the evening against an Australia side who only brought Tim Cahill, their most-capped player and all-time leading scorer, into the action for the final 13 minutes as a substitute.
The midfielder, plying his trade with New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer, almost made an immediate impact as he went close with a header, and his presence seemed to galvanise his teammates, who rallied in the closing stages. Bernie Ibini-Isei had an effort saved by UAE goalkeeper Ali Kasheif, while Trent Salisbury missed the target from six yards after being left unmarked from a corner.
On why Cahill had not started, Ange Postecoglou, the Australia coach, said: “Tim has been playing a lot of football and we want to preserve him as much as possible. We know what he is capable of and what he could do on the pitch.”
Despite failing to win, Posecoglou, whose side are next in action on Tuesday in a friendly with Qatar, said the match in Abu Dhabi had been useful to him.
“It was the first time for most of the players under tough conditions, and we learnt tonight what we can do and what we cannot do under these weather conditions,” he said.
apassela@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter at @SprtNationalUAE