The Subway Joeys will take on the United Arab Emirates in their second match of the AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2025™ on Tuesday morning (AEST).
Australia have been drawn into Group B, taking on Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, and Japan. In their first match, they drew 1-1 with Vietnam, despite dominating the game.
The tournament doubles as qualifiers for the FIFA U17 World Cup Qatar 2025™. If the Subway Joeys finish in the top two and advance from their group, they will qualify for their first FIFA U17 World Cup since 2019.
The Joeys are currently second in the group after their point in the first game. With the huge test of Japan looming, three points against the UAE take on an enormous amount of importance if they are to achieve their first goal of advancing from the group stage.
At senior level, the United Arab Emirates are ranked No.65 in the world. They last played at a FIFA U17 World Cup™ in 2013 when they hosted, and most recently qualified in 2009.
They last played at an AFC U16 Asian Cup™ in 2016, when they qualified for the quarter-finals. They withdrew from the competition in 2018 and did not qualify in 2023.
The UAE are led by coach Majed El Zaabi and will also be hoping to pick up the three points to put themselves in the box seat to advance from the group.
They were defeated 4-1 by Japan in the opening game of the tournament. Faysal Mohammed was their goalscorer and will be a player to watch for the Joeys on Tuesday morning.
- READ MORE: Subway Joeys squad announced ahead of AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2025™
- READ MORE: How To Watch: Australia at the AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2025™
What They Said
Brad Maloney
Every game we've played we've managed to get on the scoresheet. What we need to tidy up is probably the defence, and not allow goals to be conceded. Going forward, we would like to improve on that, and that's something that we might address in the next couple of days.
[The UAE] are one of the best teams in the Middle East. We expect a tough game. This is the Asian Cup, so there are no easy games, definitely. We've just got to be prepared well. We'll do our training leading into the match and we'll approach the match like any other.
Jean-Paul de Marigny (Joeys Assistant Coach)
In terms of the UAE, we've had a look at them against Japan, and we've obviously got lots of games from them. There's some key areas there where we can make sure that we create those opportunities. They're vulnerable in certain areas, but they've also got some threats. So we need to make sure that we're very focused in both areas and we feel that we can really hurt them.
They're a transition team that drop in the mid-block, they come across very narrow. So we need to change the point of attack as quickly as possible. Create overloads in wide areas in midfield, and when we do penetrate and get some crosses in, they're at their most vulnerable inside the box.
Max Anastasio
We didn't get the result we wanted [against Vietnam], but in the end, we did get a point. We are definitely not out of this tournament, and we just need to move on to the next game.
I feel like they will be tough, physically strong. They'll be mentally prepared, but so will we.
Match Details
United Arab Emirates U17 v Subway Joeys
Monday, 7 April 2025
King Fahd Sports City Stadium, Taif
Kick-off: 8.15pm local / 3.15am AEST (Tuesday, 8 April)
Broadcast: 10 Play
What's next?
Japan U17 v Subway Joeys
Thursday, 10 April 2025
Okaz Stadium, Taif
Kick-off: 6.00pm local / 1.00am AEST (Friday, 11 April)
Broadcast: 10 Play