A penalty from Oman captain Hussain Al Hadhri a minute before half-time at My Dinh Stadium appeared to have handed Oman an ideal start to the three-way play-off, which will determine who faces Senegal next month for a ticket to London.
But despite Syria playing the entire second half with just 10 men after Omar Al Suma was sent-off at half time for violent conduct, Al Douni headed home in the fifth minutes of added time to deny Oman and keep Syria in the hunt in the three team table.
"Football is a game of luck, and sometimes you are lucky and sometimes you are not. We didn't have luck at the end of the first half so you cannot say we were lucky at that time,” said Almeida, who returned as coach prior to the tournament following an eight-month hiatus.
"We conceded a goal at the worst time, right at the end of the first half, and then we also had the red card on top of that. The match was not as we planned and the first half was not good for us.
"I congratulate Oman, but I also congratulate my team for 45 minutes of fighting in the second half. They just never gave up.” Syria have just two days to recover from their exertions against Oman, while Uzbekistan will open their campaign on Tuesday after narrowly missing out on automatic qualification for London following a dramatic defeat by the United Arab Emirates earlier this month.
But with only the group winner qualifying to face Senegal, who lost 2-0 to Egypt in the third place play-off at the inaugural CAF U-23 Championship last year, Almeida knows Syria cannot afford any further slip-ups in Hanoi.
"First we want to recover from this tough match before we think about Uzbekistan," he added.
"They are a strong team and they will play very different from Oman. They will be fresh while we have only 48 hours to recover, but one thing I want to say is that these players will fight to the very end of every match." Opposite number Paul Le Guen remained upbeat despite seeing Oman fail to convert a host of second half chances before Al Douni struck in stoppage time.
"Of course I am disappointed as I thought we deserved to win," said Le Guen, who must now prepare his players for Thursday’s meeting with Uzbekistan.
"We had a very good game and created a lot of chances but we were unlucky.
"I am optimistic and we have to carry on as we still have a chance to get through. I was proud of my players, but we just missed too many chances to win." Uzbekistan coach Vadim Abramov, meanwhile, faces a goalkeeping dilemma ahead of the meeting with Syria after regular custodian Sanjar Kuvvatov suffered a knee injury while playing for Mash'al Mubarek against Bunyodkor in the Uzbekistan League.
Bunyodkor duo Akbar Turaev and Viktor Mochalov as well as Nasaf’s Eldorbek Suyunov are in contention to replace Kuvvatov, who was ever-present during the third round Group Stage as Uzbekistan finished runners-up behind the UAE.
Uzbekistan needed to win in Tashkent on Matchday Six to dislodge the UAE from the top of Group B and led 2-0 shortly after half-time thanks to goals from Oleg Zoteev and Fozil Musaev.
But the UAE responded in a four-minute spell just before the hour mark as 2008 AFC Youth Player of the Year Ahmed Khalil struck a devastating double before substitute Saleh Haboosh netted a breakaway winner in stoppage time.
Should two teams finish level at the top of the group following Thursday’s final round robin fixture, an additional one-off play-off is penciled in for Saturday to determine who will face Senegal.
