Mathew Leckie has hailed the Socceroos’ wealth of attacking options and says the Aussies should create more than enough chances to overcome UAE in Tuesday night's Asian Cup semi-final.
The Socceroos have scored 10 goals in their four matches to date, with eight different goal-scorers.
And while much focus has been on Tim Cahill - who's nabbed three, including a wonder-goal against China in the quarter-finals - Leckie believes the spread of attacking options will prove decisive against the tournament surprise-packets on Tuesday night.
“Yeah I think now in the national team we’ve got a lot of players that can be very dangerous and can change a game. It’s good to have so many players that can do that,” Leckie told reporters in Newcastle on Saturday.
“When things aren’t going well or we need a spark we know there’s many players that can come up out of nowhere.
“We all know that if we can continue playing as attacking as we do, the chances will always be there and we know that we’ve got the quality in front of goal for a lot of players to score. “
Leckie has been a shining light for Ange Postecoglou’s side in the tournament, highlighted by two outrageous assists with the outside of the boot against Kuwait and Oman.
The 23-year-old admitted he was pleased with his contributions to date and played down his inability to add to his lone goal for the national team.
“I’ve had a few chances in the last few games, a few good saves and a bit of bad luck,” he said.
“I’ll continue working hard. For me it’s just about making an input and being dangerous on the pitch.
“It’s always great to score but for me it’s just about putting in a good performance and the team getting a result."
Japan were widely tipped to meet the Socceroos in the semi-finals but were knocked out in a penalty shoot-out by United Arab Emirates in Friday night’s quarter final.
Leckie insisted that the Socceroos would not underestimate the Blue Samurai’s conquerors and will need to be at their best to progress to the final.
“That’s the strange thing about finals football is that anything can happen. Everyone expected Japan to go through but it hasn’t happened,” he said.
“They’re [UAE] a very good side, they’re very disciplined and it showed in the game last night. They’re very compact, Japan pushed really hard at the end but just couldn’t break through.
“That’s why we need to make sure that we’re on our best game come Tuesday because we don’t want to be taken out of this tournament when we’re so close to the final.“