Boasting one of the largest non-Emirati communities in the UAE, over 20 Filipinos from Bayanihan Council, came together to perform a variety of traditional and ancient dances, which filled the fan zone in Abu Dhabi with energy, exuberance and colour as the tournament played out on giant screens in the background.

Teams answered the call to represent their countries at the end of 2018, as the popular tournament now reaches its climax this weekend at Zayed Sports City, where one team will be crowned community champions of Asia.

Narrowed down from over 70 teams, the final 24 sides will battle it out in Abu Dhabi to win the seven-a-side tournament, which will see the winners receive special privileged access to the highly-anticipated AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 final on February 1.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has a reach now of 122 million for this tournament, which continues to rise every day with more and more engaging with the biggest-ever Asian Cup through the official AFC social platforms.

The AFC Asian Cup Facebook (fb.com/theafcasiancup) page has seen almost 40 million people engaged while the official Instagram account (instagram.com/afcasiancup) has clocked up more than 49 million impressions on the collection of stunning images from the competition.

Video highlights are also capturing attention with more than 7.9 million views on YouTube, watching a total of 14.1 million minutes of content – and a further 1.5 million Arabic viewers have tuned in through the AFC Arabic official Twitter account (twitter.com/afcasiancup_ar).

Tom Rogic scored deep into added time to earn the Australians a last-gasp win after the Syrians twice pinned them back in their own search for a victory that would have taken them into the Round of 16.

Awer Mabil put Australia in front before Omar Khrbin levelled while Chris Ikonomidis’ second half effort was cancelled out from the penalty spot by Omar Al Soma, only for Rogic to slam the ball home from 25 yards in the third minute of added time.

The stalemate, coupled with Syria’s last gasp loss to Australia, saw Palestine finish third in the group on two points and still in contention for a place in the next round ahead of Matchday Three action in four more groups.

Despite Palestine being forced to play a potentially nervy waiting game, Ould Ali was quick to declare that he was more than happy to be in such a position, especially given the difficult nature of the group his team were in.

Already assured of qualification, Jordan drew 0-0 with Palestine on Tuesday to finish top of Group B with a highly creditable seven points from their three games.

With Jordan now scheduled to meet the third-placed team from either Group A, C or D in Dubai on Sunday, Abdel Rahman is adamant that the 2004 and 2011 quarter-finalists are more than ready for the next round of the competition.

He is yet to feature in UAE 2019, and hasn't appeared for club side Brighton and Hove Albion since the first week of November, but the star told the-AFC.com he is physically ready to join his Team Melli teammates for the all important clash.

Thankfully, my condition is great, and I’ve trained with the team in the past couple of days," said the 25-year-old.

"I have no problem to play this game, and I am ready. It’s up to the staff to decide whether they want to use me or not."