Harbuzi winner boosts hosts' confidence

Sweden 2-1 Poland
Substitute Labinot Harbuzi scored an 89th-minute winner for Sweden on his home ground in Malmo as the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship hosts recovered from a goal down to defeat Poland.

Polish opener
The happy ending at the Malmö New Stadium – where Sweden begin their U21 campaign against Belarus on 16 June – contrasted with a nightmare start for the Scandinavian team, who were a goal down after four minutes. Patryk Malecki finished off a swift counterattack from the visitors by slotting past Johan Dahlin in the Sweden goal. Dahlin's opposite number, Michal Gliwa, then repelled the hosts on several occasions, but the equaliser was coming and PSV Eindhoven's Ola Toivonen duly provided it, timing his run into the penalty area perfectly to finish off Guillermo Molins' pass after 25 minutes.

Home favourite
If that stirred the home crowd, the two biggest cheers were still to come. The first arrived when Malmö FF midfielder Harbuzi was introduced with eleven minutes remaining and the second when he scored the winner soon after, the 23-year-old dribbling past four defenders, teeing himself up and firing beyond Wojciech Sczezesny. "Scoring was great, but I don't feel I have anything to prove," said Harbuzi. "The coaches have seen what I can do this spring."

Stadium experience
Harbuzi's timely strike secured Sweden their first win of 2009 after draws with Italy and Spain and a loss to Finland. "It was really important for us to get to play here before the tournament starts so we could get a feel of the arena and the grass," said joint-coach Jörgen Lennartsson, whose team are next in action against Estonia on Tuesday. "We had good opportunities to score and could have had a couple more goals. We had seven or eight really good chances so we need to improve our finishing."