Asia Cup

[Black Orchid]

Mathew Leckie has come off the bench to be Australia's penalty hero and fire the Socceroos into the Asian Cup quarter-finals after Matt Ryan saved two spot kicks in the shootout.

The 27-year-old sealed Australia's passage with the winning spot-kick in a shootout after Monday's round of 16 tie in Al Ain ended 0-0.

Leckie's cool strike puts Australia into the last eight, where they'll face either the host nation UAE or Kyrgyzstan.

Mark Milligan, Robbie Kruse, Apostolos Giannou and Leckie all scored in the shootout with Aziz Behich the only one to miss when his effort was well saved by Uzbek keeper Ignatiy Nesterov.

Mat Ryan saved two of the White Wolves' penalties, denying Islom Tukhthakhujaev and substitute Marat Bikmaev.

The shootout came after a tense match, which lacked many clear opportunities, finished goalless after 120 minutes.

Australia threw on Leckie for his first appearance of the tournament midway through the second-half as they searched for inspiration, with the former Adelaide United man instantly sparking life into the Socceroos' attack.

Through to the quarter finals. GO THE SOCCEROOS!!

[Black Orchid]

Milos Degenek has delivered one of the most honest and heartbreaking post-match interviews you'll ever see following the Socceroos 1-0 loss to the UAE at the Asian Cup quarter-finals.

The Australian defender was culpable for the deciding goal with his stray back pass in the second-half opening the door for Ali Mabkhout to strike.

Degenek, who had impressed across the entire tournament, quickly owned up to the mistake post-game as the harsh reality of his error set in.

Such a shame they were looking so promising.