The hosts booked a date with the Socceroos this Saturday morning after surviving a scare against Kyrgyzstan.

The two nations have met five times in the past eight years, with their last match a 2-0 win to Australia in a World Cup qualifier in March 2017.

But according to the veteran Italian coach, he knows very little about the defending Asian champions.

"Australia, I do not know anything about them," he told reporters. "It’s been a long time since I watched them.

"We played almost 120 minutes and Australia did the same."

Zaccheroni believed that the Sons of Zayed deserved to go through to the quarter-finals after a close encounter with Kyrgyzstan.

"The UAE created some opportunities and scored goals," he said. "Our team was more aggressive and created lots of opportunities that were not all converted.

"The UAE had more opportunities than the Kyrgystani team. My team always were taking the lead.

"We showcased a strong personality, especially after the late leveller. We succeeded at the end. We knew very well and we have seen it was a difficult game.

"I warned the players that Kyrgyzstan are a strong team. Their lines are compact.

"But I thank our players for their reaction. I thank them very much. They played very positively and they managed to score the goals.

"I thank also the fans for their support and I dedicate this quarter-final place to them. I hope the next game will be better.

He added: "We will try to correct all the things that we believe were less positive between now and the quarter-finals.

"We now have three days to assess our squad and their injuries before we face a strong Australia team."