Australia vs UAE Tips, Prediction & Preview

Andrew Hendrie:

Australia have no room left for mistakes as they prepare for a crunch World Cup qualifying playoff clash with the UAE in Qatar on Wednesday morning AEST.

Australia vs UAE World Cup Qualifying Tips, Prediction & Preview

Australia vs UAE free World Cup qualifying playoff prediction, tips and preview – all six previous meetings between the nations have produced under 2.5 goals…

Australia vs UAE H2H Prediction

Australia vs UAE Tips

Best Under 2.5 goals odds $1.61 with bet365

  • All six previous meetings between the teams have seen under 2.5 goals
  • BTTS – NO has landed in all six previous meetings
  • UAE have seen under 2.5 goals in their last five straight games
  • UAE have lost four of their last six competitive games
  • Australia have seen under 2.5 goals in four of their last six competitive games
  • Australia have seen 7+ corners in their last four competitive games
  • UAE have seen 7+ corners in their last four competitive games

Australia vs UAE Same Game Multi

Australia vs UAE Match Details

🌏 Competition: World Cup Qualifying Playoffs
🗓 Date: Wednesday June 8 AES
⏰ Time: 4.00am AEST
🏟 Stadium: Ahmad bin Ali Stadium (Al Rayyan, Qatar)

Australia vs UAE Head to Head (last five matches)

  • 26/1/19: UAE 1-0 Australia
  • 28/3/17: Australia 2-0 UAE
  • 7/9/16: UAE 0-2 Australia
  • 27/1/15: Australia 2-0 UAE
  • 11/10/14: UAE 0-0 Australia
  • 6/1/11: UAE 0-0 Australia

Australia vs UAE Preview & Prediction

Australia’s rocky path towards FIFA World Cup 2022 qualification continues on Wednesday morning AEST in Qatar as the Socceroos square off against the UAE in a one-leg playoff showdown.

The winner will then progress to face Peru next week, where a spot in the World Cup will be on the line.

It’s been a nightmare qualifying campaign for the Socceroos after a bright start and they come into this clash having failed to win six of their last seven competitive matches.

An easy route through the first qualification phase against minnow nations masked serious problems within the Socceroos camp and now the team is paying the price. Graham Arnold is under immense pressure after several questionable decisions surrounding his team over the course of the second round of qualifying and even if he can somehow navigate these next two games, it’s still up in the air if he would stay on to coach during the World Cup, which begins in November.

Australia have also been dealt a major blow heading into this encounter, with star midfielder Tom Rogic – one of the only players in this Socceroos team that is genuinely world class – announcing he would be missing the playoffs due to ‘personal reasons’.

Scoring goals has been a massive issue for the Socceroos ever since Tim Cahill retired and so far, no striker has been able to do a job up front. Australia did manage to beat Jordan 2-1 in a friendly a few days ago, but both goals came from set pieces, which is usually the only way the team can find the back of the net these days.

Midfielders Aaron Mooy and Ajdin Hrustic – who recently won the Europa League with German side Eintracht Frankfurt – will have to provide the creative spark for the Socceroos, while the likes of Nick D’Agostino, Jamie Maclaren, Mitch Duke, Martin Boyle and Awer Mabil are the side’s best options up front and out wide.

Meanwhile, the UAE are attempting to reach their first World Cup since 1990. They started the second round of qualifying slowly, but after appointing new manager Rodolfo Arruabarrena, they managed to sneak into these playoffs after upsetting South Korea 1-0 on the final match day.

UAE didn’t have the ideal warm-up to this playoff, drawing 1-1 with African minnows Gambia, with Ali Mabkhout scoring from the penalty spot. Mabkhout is the main man for the UAE, with the 31-year-old striker scoring the most-ever goals for the nation with 80 from 104 appearances.

All of the current squad currently play their club football in the UAE, but they have proven to be a tough side to break down and even defeated the Socceroos in their last outing en route to the 2019 Asian Cup semi-finals.

VERDICT:

Australia are arguably in the midst of their worst ever period in international football right now in terms of players, results and game style – but surely they can solve the UAE puzzle and advance into a do-or-die clash with Peru.

Despite the absence of genuine world class players, the Socceroos squad is still much stronger than the UAE team and they have ample experience of playing in the Middle East after basing themselves in that part of the world during the pandemic.

It does promise to be a low-scoring and dull affair – Australia struggle to score goals and the UAE have seen under 2.5 goals in their last five straight games, while all six previous meetings between the nations have produced under 2.5 goals (Best Under 2.5 goals odds $1.61 with bet365.)

Australia vs UAE Predicted Teams

UAE: Ali Khasif, Walid Abbas, Fahd Al Dhanhani, Abdulaziz Heikal, Mohammed Marzouk; Ali Salmeen, Bandar Al-Ahbabi, Abdullah Ramadan; Caio Canedo, Ali Saleh, Ali Mabkhout.

Australia: Mathew Ryan, Rhyan Grant, Trent Sainsbury, Joel King, Fran Karačić; Martin Boyle, Ajdin Hrustic, Kenny Dougall, Awer Mabil; Jamie Mclaren, Mitchell Duke.

Australia vs UAE Stats

  • All six previous meetings between the teams have seen under 2.5 goals
  • BTTS – NO has landed in all six previous meetings
  • UAE have seen under 2.5 goals in their last five straight games
  • UAE have lost four of their last six competitive games
  • Australia have seen under 2.5 goals in four of their last six competitive games
  • Australia have seen 7+ corners in their last four competitive games
  • UAE have seen 7+ corners in their last four competitive games

Australia vs UAE Best Bet

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