Not only did UAE book themselves a place in the last four with their stunning win, they also spared the host-nation a rematch against the country that beat them in the last Asian Cup final and the 2007 quarter-finals.
The Australians were cursing their rotten luck after they lost to South Korea in the group stage, ruining their chance of playing their semi-final at Sydney's sprawling Olympic Stadium on Australia Day.
They will instead play at Newcastle's much smaller Hunter Stadium, a day later on Jan. 27, but not against their great foes, thanks to UAE's shock win.
Brimming with self-confidence, the Australians have promised to repay UAE with a ruthless display, and have already started the trash-talk.
"I don't think the UAE has got the legs to go with us for 90 minutes," Australian defender Trent Sainsbury told reporters on Sunday.
"As soon as we lose the ball, (we're going to) try and win it back, try and choke them until they're blue.
"You have got to go for it in this game. You can't hold back."
Australia and UAE have played each other just twice before with both matches ending in scoreless draws. But the Australians should have a big advantage this time.
Not only are they playing on home soil, but they also had an extra day's rest after they comfortably won their quarter-final against China 24 hours before UAE beat Japan on penalties after the teams were still level after extra time.
"The tempo of the games looked like all the teams have been through a pretty tough schedule so far," Postecoglou said. "I don't expect them to come out at us.
"What they do becomes a little bit irrelevant... we still want to dictate the game."
The UAE head coach Mahdi Ali bemoaned the lack of time between games but hasn't given up hope of his team pulling off another upset.
"Playing against Australia in Australia, it will also be a very tough game but we have just finished and we have only two days (to recover)," he said.
"They have three days and we have to travel, so we will try to recover for the next match.
"We don't have much time, so we have to get together again to do a good job in the next match."
With the exception of their loss to South Korea when they rested key attacker Tim Cahill and several other key players, the Australians have been the best attacking team in the tournament, scoring 10 goals.
And Sainsbury said the home team would continue to press forward, as much to try and win new supporters to a sport that has been slow to take off in Australia.
"You have got to go for it in this game -- you can't hold back," Sainsbury said.
"I think we have got a massive opportunity to change the way people look at football in Australia and the boys know the importance of it.
"So we're going to go out there and give 100 per cent."
(Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
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