1. Ange shuffles the Aussie deck
After last Thursday's 2-0 home victory over Iraq in Perth, Australia coach Ange Postecoglou delivered changes for the long trip to West Asia.
Once again, Cahill started on the bench, and their second most experienced player, Mile Jedinak, was ruled out because of injury. It meant that Mark Milligan wore the captain's armband, switching from defence to central midfield.
Matthew Spiranovic joined Trent Sainsbury at the back, Ryan McGowan took over from Milos Degenek at right-back while Robbie Kruse earned a start in place of Massimo Luongo in attacking midfield.
Previous coaches Pim Verbeek and Holger Osieck would have almost certainly adopted a cautious approach away from home against the team who finished third at last year's Asian Cup. But the Aussies stayed true to their instincts as Postecoglou returned to his preferred 4-3-3 formation from last week's 4-4-2.
Milligan made a jittery start, with a back pass that almost played into the hands of the home side if not for Mat Ryan's speedy intervention before a crude tackle on Omar Abdulrahman that somehow escaped a yellow card.
Australia slowly settled down and saw Aaron Mooy provide a number of measured set pieces to take the U.A.E. out of their comfort zone. Spiranovic's header was tipped over the bar after the Mooy corner and the Hangzhou Greentown defender was unfortunate not to earn a penalty after being tacked to the ground as he awaited Mooy's delivery just before half-time.
In the 18th minute, Kruse had the best chance for Australia when put through one-on-one by Tomi Juric. But the Bayer Leverkusen forward once again showed his lack of composure in goal-scoring situations as he shot directly at goalkeeper Ali Khasif.
Tom Rogic looked more likely to score. After the chest down by Juric, his deflected shot was knocked over the bar by Ali for yet another corner. But then, in the 49th minute the Celtic midfielder was perhaps lucky to stay on the field after a studs-up challenge on Khamis Ismail that earned a yellow card.