Australia out of Asian Cup after defensive howler gifts UAE goal in quarter-final

The Socceroos’ Asian Cup defence is over, snuffed out by one dreadful error that sent Graham Arnold’s men to a 1-0 quarter-final defeat to the United Arab Emirates.

Australia's midfielder Jackson Irvine , left, holds his head after losing 1-0 to United Arab Emirates during the AFC Asian Cup quarter-final.

The Socceroos’ Asian Cup defence is over, snuffed out by one dreadful error that sent Graham Arnold’s men to a 1-0 quarter-final defeat to the United Arab Emirates.

A defensive howler by Milos Degenek allowed striker Ali Mabkhout to skip past Mat Ryan and casually roll home the 68th-minute winner in a thrilling, open match otherwise controlled by Australia.

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It came five minutes after Apostolos Giannou had a goal disallowed for off-side on Friday night, and the Socceroos couldn’t find the equaliser they craved to progress to the semi-finals.

Jackson Irvine reacts after losing 1-0 to United Arab Emirates.

Of all the challenges thrown up at the trophy-holders throughout a tricky group stage, and after a rousing penalty-shootout win over Uzbekistan in the round of 16, the Socceroos came undone at the hands of the host nation they were heavily tipped to knock off.

Instead, the UAE will play Tuesday’s semi-final against Qatar in Abu Dhabi, and the post-mortem will begin on Australia’s mixed campaign – the first with Arnold back at the helm and the worst tournament result since his last tenure when they went out in the 2007 quarter-finals.

Friday’s result was undeniably cruel, especially given the Socceroos had played their most pleasing football yet on Hazza bin Zayed Stadium’s fast-moving pitch, albeit still lacking the elusive final product.

For a contest between two teams who’d both come off gruelling extra-time shifts only days ago, this was end-to-end football that suited the Socceroos’ strengths.

Fares Juma Al Saadi of UAE battles for possession with Australia’s Mathew Leckie.

A tinkered formation utilising both Jamie Maclaren and Giannou up front allowed some of their most fluid football of the tournament.

Alberto Zaccheroni made five changes from the fortuitous extra-time round-of-16 win over Kyrgyzstan and set up to halt Australia’s forward movement.

But no number of UAE shirts could offset a porous defence that offered up a free header inside the first four minutes – though they did lose right-back Mohamed Gharib to injury early on.

Trent Sainsbury, the name attached to the noggin, couldn’t fashion enough downward angle on the corner and it whistled over the crossbar, though far less so than Jackson Irvine’s subsequent volley.

Australia was aggressive and eager and bore down on UAE territory, Robbie Kruse in fine form on his return to the starting line-up and Giannou making some terrific runs to help Maclaren got more involved in play and let rip a stinging strike just before halftime.

The Socceroos enjoyed the share of possession, but the host nation made moves too.

Ismail Al Hammadi was the chief mischief-maker, and the skipper added to his early shot to sting the palms of an alert Ryan on the counter after Mark Milligan coughed up possession.

Al Hammadi wove slickly through Australia’s men only to be thwarted by a well-timed intervention from Rhyan Grant, the Sydney FC right-back who was bizarrely booed by the 25,053-strong vocal pro-UAE crowd every time he touched the ball.

Mabkhout was in prime position for a first-half injury-time header but sent it marginally high.

Up the other end Chris Ikonomidis turned this way and that and scampered into dangerous areas only to take an extra touch and get stripped by Fares Juma Al Saadi.

UAE forward Ali Mabkhout scores against Australia.

The second half brought more open play. The ball dropped for Ikonomidis and he flashed wide, and Mat Leckie was hurled on to light the spark.

He did, only to be ruled for off-side when he slid Giannou a ball the striker slid into the net.

Then Degenek horribly undercooked a backpass to Ryan and Mabkout was waiting to pounce, intercepting the loose ball, rounding Australia’s goalkeeper and rolling home.

Suddenly Australia was chasing the game, and substitutes Awer Mabil and Andrew Nabbout helped the chase for an equaliser as the UAE wasted all the time they could.

Injuries mounted up for the hosts and Leckie’s cut head was bandaged following a heavy clash with Juma, who appeared to be knocked out.

But though Australia came close over and again, time simply ran out.

Originally published as Australia out of Asian Cup after defensive howler gifts UAE goal in quarter-final