Australia’s defence of their AFC Asian Cup title sadly came to an end after this game as Ali Mabkhout’s second half goal earned tournament hosts the United Arab Emirates a 1-0 win over the Socceroos and set up a semi-final meeting with Qatar.
Some will point to the absence of injured or suspended stars, some to the hectic schedule and many to Milos Degenek’s howler but in the end a failure to score in more than 215 minutes of knockout play dearly cost Australia as their Asian Cup title defence ended at the quarter-final stage.
Coming into the tournament the question was always where the goals were likely to come from and in the end the team failed to score in three of their five matches despite controlling possession in the majority of those outings.
What was an emerging trend at last year’s World Cup became an established pattern of play in that a majority of teams at international level are happier sitting deep and striking on the counter, and Australia struggled mightily to break down those kinds of nations at the Asian Cup.