Football: Big test looms for UAE as they take on Australia in crucial World Cup qualifer

Dubai - UAE are sitting fourth on the points table, with leaders Saudi Arabia, Japan and Australia above them

The door is still ajar but then, the steps you take, may well determine whether you are on your way in, or out. The UAE find themselves at that very juncture at the moment, their Russian dream hinging on how they tackle the Socceroos in their own backyard.
The Whites go into a crucial World Cup qualifer against Australia and the verdict at the Allianz Stadium in picture perfect Sydney on Tuesday will more or less decide if Mahdi Ali's golden generation can make that trip to Russia in 2018.
Call it what you may, a must-win or do-or-die tilt, a positive result is the need of the hour for both, the visitors as well as the hosts. And it could be a defining one if the UAE come away unscathed from this skirmish. It will put the Whites ahead of the Socceroos but more importantly, keep their hopes, however slender, alive.
Considering the start to their campaign, the UAE have flattered only to deceive. They had begun with a stunning upset of Japan in Saitama last September but then went on to lose to Australia at home. The Whites then dusted themselves off to see off Thailand but their mental block against Saudi Arabia came back to haunt them, a 3-0 scoreline in Jeddah, posing more questions rather than answers.
Those fires were extinguished with a 2-0 win over Iraq in November but the damage had been done by then and the 2-0 defeat to Japan at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium last week.
The diagnosis isn't looking good with the UAE sitting fourth on the points table, with leaders Saudi Arabia, Japan and Australia above them. And emulating the class of 1990 is still a long way off. But if any side can rise up to a challenge such as this, it is this bunch of lads.
This is a professional squad and one knitted together by Mahdi Ali over the years. A fair share of these players have been an evolution of the age group teams which Mahdi Ali moulded. They are mentally strong and definitely not the types who would fold like a pack of cards. These lads can spoil for a fight do know how to wriggle out when they have their backs to the wall.
So, one can expect a thrilling fight between these two teams. And the UAE won't be parking the bus, so to speak, and will play their free-flowing, aggressive and entertaining brand of football, to get a good result.
And they would not just be doing it for the UAE, but also for their embattled coach Mahdi Ali, with questions being asked about his future.
The Whites will be bolstered by the possible return of striker Ahmed Khalil after the 2015 AFC Player of the Year had missed the fixture against Japan because of a calf injury.
They will also be hoping that their talisman Omar Abdulrahman will put his blues aside after a subdued performance against Japan.
UAE squad:
Majed Naser, Abdulaziz Sanqour, Walid Abbas, Khamis Ismail, Habib Al Fardan, Ismail Al Hammadi, Ahmed Khalil (Al Ahli), Khaled Eisa, Mohanad Salem, Ismail Ahmed, Mohammed Abdulrahman, Ahmed Barman, OmAr Abdulrahman (Al Ain), Ali Khaseif, Fares Juma, Mohammed Fawzi, Ali Mabkhout, Khalfan Mubarak (Al Jazira), Hamdan Al Kamali, Ismail Matar (Al Wahda), Tariq Ahmed, Salem Saleh, Mahmoud Khamis (Al Nasr), Khamis Ebrahim (Al Shabab).
james@khaleejtimes.com