Sweden strike late to deny Kazakhstan

Sweden scored two minutes from time to avoid slipping to a shock defeat in Astana, drawing 1-1 away to Kazakhstan in their UEFA European Under-21 Championship Group 6 qualifier.

Shabalin strike
Pavel Rodnenok took over the Kazakhstan reins from Samvel Kostandyan following September's 2-1 home defeat by Israel and his side nearly produced a memorable victory in his first match in charge. His charges started aggressively and dominated the first period against the semi-finalists from this summer's finals. Ulan Konysbayev wasted two great opportunities, first missing the target and then drilling a chance into a Swedish defender. Pavel Shabalin was not so wasteful, however, and opened the scoring after a wonderful back-heeled pass from Marat Shakhmetov on 51 minutes.

Almebäck equaliser
Shakhmetov then played in Ruslan Kenetayev, only for the FC Shakhtyor Karagandy forward to be denied by goalkeeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt, and Sweden made the most of that reprieve two minutes from time when substitute Michael Almebäck restored parity. Kazakhstan now have five points from six games with Sweden heading the section with two points more from three matches fewer.