Veselinovic shoots for final place

By Andrew Haslam in Belfast

Serbia and Montenegro have reached the semi-finals of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship in fine fashion, winning all three games in Northern Ireland to clinch Group A by a three-point margin.

Five-goal flourish
Instrumental in the success of Zvonko Zivkovic's side has been captain Borko Veselinovic, the tournament's top scorer with five goals. The FK Partizan striker has led by example, scoring twice in the first match against Germany to wipe out a two-goal deficit in a tie the Serbo-Montenegrins went on to win 4-2. He then got the only goal of the Matchday 2 triumph against hosts Northern Ireland, before adding two more in the concluding 3-0 victory against Greece that confirmed his team at the head of the standings.

Team sport
The forward, who also registered six times in qualifying including a hat-trick in a 7-1 win against Albania, is quick to deflect praise, however, telling uefa.com: "Of course I feel some personal satisfaction, as I have scored five goals, but it's a team game. If I score, it's because the other ten guys are playing well and have created chances for me."

Clinical display
Serbia and Montenegro were in particularly clinical mood against the Greeks, taking the lead as early as the fourth minute when Veselinovic struck from the penalty spot after Nemanja Arsenijevic had been fouled. Arsenijevic himself headed a second in the 16th minute, before Veselinovic rounded off a devastating first-half display with his second and Serbia and Montenegro's third two minutes before the interval.

'Freedom to perform'
Nevertheless, Veselinovic is confident there is more to come from his side, saying: "Against Greece, the first goal made the game easy for us. After that, Greece hardly attacked and rarely threatened us, so it was a nice game for the crowd to watch; we had freedom to play. We've played quite well in all three games, but I think our best performance came in the second half of the first match [against Germany], when we came from 2-0 down and scored four times to win. I don't think we've played quite as well as that since.

Concentration and motivation
"If there's anything we can improve on for the semi-finals, I'd say perhaps our concentration and motivation," the 19-year-old continued. "I think that was our problem in the first half against Germany, but obviously we recovered from that, which shows we can overcome this problem."

'Here to win'
Veselinovic believes Serbia and Montenegro's participation in this tournament will stand his country in good stead in the future, but is not limiting his ambition to just that. "It's a huge experience for all of us to play in these finals," he told uefa.com. "We've never have a chance like this before, and it's a great opportunity for us to show everyone how good Serbo-Montenegrin football is. But we've come to this tournament to win it; that's why we are professional sportsmen, to win things."

Spirit in the squad
And according to the prolific marksman, the team spirit in Zivkovic's squad could give them the edge here in Northern Ireland: "There's lots of confidence in this team; the squad has been together for years, we're all friends and there's a great team spirit among us. I've been captain of the side all season and I'm proud of that. I always try to set an example; every day, I try to act as a leader should."