What's with the red cap? Perhaps the only mystery about a UAE team standing between Australia and a place in the final of the Asian Cup is the plain, unsponsored, cap worn by their coach, who's never seen in public without it. Am I the only one who wants to know what it means?

Cap aside, Mahdi Ali is an open book. A former player who was denied his greatest moment – playing in the1990 World Cup – by a last-minute injury, a man who quit the public service a few years ago to groom the next generation of UAE players. And what a job he's done.

Ali has proved to be as inspirational in rejuvenating his national team over the past two years as Ange Postecoglou has in revitalising the Socceroos over the past 13 months. The UAE team which has risen to the challenge in Australia is very much of his own making – a group of players who've come through the various youth teams under his control, including 13 graduates from the under-23 side which qualified for the London Olympics.

There's a spirit, a belief, in this side which has rarely been seen from Emirati teams of the recent past. Life is good for professional players in the UAE, so good there isn't a single player based abroad in their Asian Cup squad. That comfort zone creates a lack of ambition, and perhaps even a lack of patriotism. The UAE have rarely been renowned for their fighting spirit, but that's all changed. Ali is only the fourth Emirati to coach the national team, which may explain the transformation.

Either way, the UAE have suddenly become very tough to beat. The Socceroos had to dig deep to grind out a scoreless draw in a friendly in Dubai three months ago, while in this tournament both Iran and Japan have discovered how resolute the UAE can be in the clutch moments. The Socceroos had been expecting to play Japan in Newcastle, but now they find themselves up against the Emiratis. Contrary to popular opinion, that doesn't make the semi-final any easier to negotiate.

Sydney FC midfielder Nick Carle, who spent the 2013 season in the UAE playing for Baniyas, has a warning: "They'll be very dangerous opponents. I wouldn't say I'm surprised they've done so well, although I was surprised they beat Japan. But to me they were always one of the dark horses. The coach has given them the discipline, the professionalism, that maybe wasn't there before, and you have to give him a lot of credit for that."

The spotlight will again fall on the pint-sized, mop-haired playmaker Omar Abdulrahman, whose left foot has produced some of the tournament's most outrageous moments, not least his penalty against Japan. But the supporting cast lacks little in comparison – the speed and power of strikers Ali Mabkhout and Ahmed Khalil, the unselfish prompting of midfielders Khamis Esmael and Amer Abdulrahman, the defensive muscularity of Hamdan Al Kamali and Mohamed Ahmed, and the big-game experience of goalkeeper and skipper Majed Naser, have all been crucial components of Ali's astute game plan.

It's a plan built around Omar Abdulrahman, whose charter is to dictate the tempo of their play. The Socceroos play best at one speed – fast – but the UAE have the ability to change gears to great effect. The trap for the Socceroos is to slow down when Omar Abdulrahman does, but you'd imagine Postecoglou will be well aware of that. Scouts such as Ante Juric and Alistair Edwards prepared dossiers on the UAE well before the Asian Cup kicked off – details which Postecoglou will now put to good use.

There are some suggestions Newcastle is not a suitable venue for a game of this magnitude. I couldn't think of anywhere better for the Socceroos to be playing. A team attempting to create history gets the chance to draw on history in the city which helped give birth to the game in Australia. The signs are promising.