An experimental Australia failed to overcome United Arab Emirates in a drab scoreless draw on Wednesday in their last warmup match for the Asian Cup starting in Qatar on Friday.
Holger Osieck, the Socceroos' German coach, opted to rest many of his senior players such as Everton's Tim Cahill and Fulham's Mark Schwarzer, and cast his eye over peripheral players: Midfielder Matt McKay and forward Nathan Burns started.
In contrast, UAE coach Srecko Katanec fielded a full-strength side to try to maintain momentum following the Emirates' 2-0 victory over Syria on Sunday.
Australia's youthful midfield, despite its inexperience at international level, dominated the first half and McKay should have opened the scoring in the 22nd minute when he found space in the opposition area, but he blasted over the bar.
Both teams made personnel changes at the interval, but it failed to ignite the contest, epitomized by the fact neither goalkeeper was called into action until the 55th when Subait Khater, the UAE captain, saw his free kick from distance collected comfortably by Nathan Coe.
Fares Juma came closest for the UAE in the 82nd when his powerful long drive struck Coe's left upright.
Australia starts its cup campaign on Monday against India, while UAE begins against North Korea the following day.
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Lineups:
Australia: Bradley Jones (Nathan Coe, 45), Lucas Neill, David Carney, Sasa Ognenovski, Luke Wilshire (Jade North, 45), Brett Holman (Tommy Oar), Mile Jedinak (Neil Kilkenny, 63), Carl Valeri, Matt McKay, Scott McDonald (Robbie Kruse, 63), Nathan Burns.
UAE: Majed Nasser, Subait Khater (Mohamed Fawzi, 86), Walid Abbas, Yousef Jaber, Mahmoud Khamis (Theyab Awana, 45), Ismail Matar (Mohammed AL Shehhi, 73), Hamdan Al Kamali, Fares Juma (Khalid Sebil, 86), Amer Abdulrahman, Ali Alwehaibi (Ismail Al Hammadi, 45), Ahmed Khalil (Saeed Alkas, 45).
