Dubai: Perhaps rekindling bad memories of their final Olympic Qualifying group match against the UAE earlier this month, Uzbekistan must now face another GCC rival in Oman on Thursday as they bid to grab their second chance of qualifying for London 2012.

Uzbekistan lost 3-2 at home to the UAE in their winner-takes-all match in Tashkent on March 14, squandering a 2-0 lead given to them by Oleg Zoteav and Fozil Musaev.

The setback of finishing second in their group put the Uzbeks into a three-way play-off with fellow also-rans Oman and Syria on neutral territory in Vietnam. The round-robin competition at the My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi finishes tomorrow.

So far, Oman and Syria drew 1-1 on Sunday and Uzbekistan beat Syria 2-1 on Tuesday, to knock the Syrians out of the running.

Omar Aldone grabbed a last-minute equaliser for Syria against Oman to cancel out Hassan Al Hadri's 43rd minute penalty. The Syrians then went one up early on against Uzbekistan via Yasir Shaheen, before the Uzbeks returned with strikes from Kenja Tureav and Zoteav on 73 and 88 minutes.

The decider between Uzbekistan and Oman - in which a draw would be enough for the Uzbeks to proceed - will be shown on Dubai Sports One, from UAE 3pm. The match will determine who goes through to a final one-off play-off with African runners-up Senegal in Coventry, England, on April 23.

Only the winner of this all-important final qualifier against Senegal will progress to the 16-team tournament in London, where the likes of Great Britain, UAE, Spain, Uruguay and Brazil await. The other confirmed entrants are Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Gabon, Morocco, Egypt, Switzerland and Belarus.

The Uzbekistan coach, Vadim Abramov, insists his team won't play for a draw against Oman. "I don't understand what happened with the players in the first half [against Syria]. Maybe they hadn't forgotten what happened in the UAE game," he said.

"This is football. Yesterday you play and tomorrow you play a little different. The players understand this and know what is at stake. It is up to them to step up. There is not much to be said about Thursday's match [against Oman]. It will be a tough game with both teams looking to take their chance to reach the next stage. Both have a 50-50 chance," he said. "We must forget that a draw might be enough to qualify. Sometimes if you play for a draw you can end up losing. Players must forget that they only need a draw and play to win."