Late Lafferty strike denies Sweden

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Sweden's march towards the Euro 2008 finals was stopped in its tracks as Northern Ireland claimed a superb 1-1 draw in Stockholm, depriving the home side of the three points that would have sealed qualification from Group F.

Sweden appeared on course for the finals after Aston Villa defender Olof Mellberg opened the scoring with a volley after a Kim Kallstrom flick-on.

However, Kyle Lafferty scored a superb equalizer -- cutting inside a defender to curl his shot past goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson with just 18 minutes remaining.

The hosts pressed forward for a winner and Kallstrom's sweetly struck 84th minute free-kick, which struck the outside of the post, nearly provided it.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic then wasted a late chance to score the winner on the stroke of full-time, but he sent a free header wide of the post.

Sweden still need a win from their final two matches, away in Spain and at home to Latvia to secure their place in the finals.

The result leaves Northern Ireland with still an outside chance of qualification but they need to win their final two matches against Denmark and Spain.

Meanwhile, Iceland's dismal qualification campaign continued as they slumped to a 3-0 defeat at bottom side Liechtenstein. E-mail to a friend