United Arab Emirates players know they cannot let their Asian Cup focus revolve around Tim Cahill

THEY could be forgiven for obsessing about Tim Cahill, but the UAE players insist they must not fall into that trap.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 23: Ali Mabkhout of the United Arab Emirates celebrates with team mates after scoring a goal during the 2015 Asian Cup Quarter Final match between Japan and the United Arab Emirates at ANZ Stadium on January 23, 2015 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

THEY could be forgiven for obsessing about Tim Cahill, but the UAE players insist they must not fall into that trap if they are to upset another of the Asian Cup favourites.

Exultant at pulling off one of the great Asian Cup shocks after their shoot-out defeat of Japan, The Whites instantly tried to reset their emotions and focus on a semifinal with Australia on Tuesday night in Newcastle.

Given just three days to recover from 120 minutes of increasingly desperate resistence, striker Ahmed Khalil said the threat posed by Australia would be on a par with Japan - the reigning champions who dominated Friday night’s quarterfinal at ANZ Stadium but could not convert that into a decisive blow.

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Nor did that threat come only from Cahill, he said, despite the Australian striker’s magnificent double in the win over China.

“For me, it’s not about just one player,” Khalil said. “If you want [to succeed] you have to think about all the team. [The threat is] not just one player. That’s why we have to work hard as a team, and we will see in the next game if we can win. We will do everything we can.

“I think it’s a big win [against Japn] but now the game for me is finished, and we have to continue that in the next game. We have to concentrate on the next [challenge] and we want to win. We have to concentrate 100% on the next game. It will be just as hard [as Japan] so we must work hard if we want to win again.”

No doubt the Socceroos will have noted the almost casual brilliance with which Ali Mabkhout opened the scoring for the UAE in the seventh minute of the win over Japan, a goal Mabkhout himself called his “best ever”. Reiterating Khalil’s claim that Australia were equal to Japan as Asia’s best, he said the elimination of Iran as well as Japan was something they had to ignore - for all the opportunity it opens up for them to target the final.

“We know the Australian team very well, we know they are very strong and maybe the best team in Asia with Japan,” Mabkhout said. “But we will try to play our game and we hope we win this game. We don’t care about [the teams eliminated], there are three other teams left and all are strong.

“But also we have a good team, and we have good players. [Japan] was a test for us but we made a good game.”