Oman took the lead through a Hussain Al Hadhri penalty late in the first-half of Sunday's match and with Syria playing the entire second-half with ten men after Omar Al Suma was sent off during the interval for violent conduct, the Gulf Sultanate dominated the second period but couldn't make the most of the chances that came their way.

And they were punished for their profligacy with virtually the last incident of a tough encounter at the My Dinh Stadium when substitute Ahmad Al Douni headed home the equaliser five minutes into second-half stoppage time.

"Tomorrow will be a very difficult game against a very strong side," Almeida said at the pre-match press conference on Monday.

"I don't need to speak about Uzbekistan as they are one of the top five football nations in Asia. We have a job to do and although we only have 48 hours recovery we will be ready."

Failure to get all three points against Oman means that Syria must not only defeat Uzbekistan in their last match of the three-team tournament but also hope that Thursday's meeting between the Gulf Sultanate and the Central Asians ends with a favourable result for them.

But uppermost in the mind of Almeida is getting his team prepared for the Uzbeks

"Motivation comes from within," said the Portuguese tactician.

"This is a big tournament and the motivation is to qualify for the Olympics. We are still in with a chance and we will fight to the very end.

"This is football. We like to face these challenges and to play at a higher level."

Almeida was asked if the draw against Oman meant that his side were under more pressure than the Uzbeks to which the 42-year-old, who was part of the coaching staff that helped Estoril to back-to-back Portuguese lower-league titles in 2003 and 2004, replied:

"I don't think it is right to say the pressure is on Syria as we have to be realistic about things.

"The first half against Oman was not good for us but after the red card you saw how we fought to get back into the game.

"Look at the teams that are out of the Olympics such as Saudi Arabia and Australia and look at the quality of the teams that qualified...number one, Japan, number two, Korea.

"We are fighting to join them and Uzbekistan are fighting to join them. We both want to qualify and if anything the pressure is on Uzbekistan as they are the stronger team. They can fight as equals to many European teams."