Serbia seek to make home advantage tell

The UEFA European Under-19 Championship Elite round kicks off on Tuesday afternoon with Hungary, Austria and the hosts all hoping for a return to the final tournament as Group 1 kicks off in Serbia.

Finals experience
All three sides have recent finals experience, Hungary reaching the last four on their debut a year ago and Serbia qualifying for the group stage in 2007, a tournament that was held in Austria. Only Finland – who hosted the U18 event in 2001 having qualified for the first time a year earlier – have not been involved in the final stages in the past few years, although having won two of their three qualifying round games they will travel to Serbia in optimistic mood.

SERBIA
Having performed impressively in the qualifying round and with home advantage Serbia will be confident of progress, although Aleksandar Stanojević must make do without two key midfielders as captain Nenad Krstičić and Slobodan Medojević are both injured. "This is an opportunity to validate all the work we've done over the last year," the head coach said. "Our target is the European Championship, and we have the power and quality to achieve that. Krstičić and Medojević mean so much for us, but Uroš Matić and Predrag Stevanović are good replacements. This is the chance for this generation [to win the finals] and we want to take it."

Qualifying round: Northern Ireland 3-1, Albania 5-0, England 4-1 (Group 1 winners)

Key players: Adem Ljajić (midfielder, Manchester United FC), Aleksandar Ignjovski (left-winger, OFK Beograd), Darko Lazović (forward, FK Borac forward), Danijel Aleksić (forward, FK Vojvodina)

HUNGARY
Hungary's Dutch coach Wilco van Buuren can call on eight players who ply their trade in England and Italy with four members of the side who reached the 2008 semi-finals involved again this time round as Péter Gulácsi, Bence Iszlai, András Simon and Bálint Bajner are all still eligible. Hungary have been conducting their preparation at a new training centre on the outskirts of Budapest, Van Buuren saying: "It's a great boost for us to be the first national team to use the new technical centre in Telki."

Qualifying round: San Marino 6-0, Azerbaijan 1-0, Scotland 0-1 (Group 1 runners-up)

Key players: Péter Gulácsi (goalkeeper, Liverpool FC), András Simon (striker, Liverpool), Bence Iszlai (defender, Szombathelyi Haladás), Bálint Bajner (striker, West Ham United FC)

FINLAND
Jyrki Heliskoski's side travel to Serbia on the back of 7-0 warm-up defeats against holders Germany and France, and despite the absence of key players in the games, the Finland coach acknowledges harsh lessons have to be learned quickly. "Both teams are top-class opponents and we would have needed all our best players to be able to challenge them properly," said Heliskoski. "It is, however, clear that we cannot afford to concede such easy goals if we are to have any success in the Elite round."

Qualifying round: Israel 2-1, Portugal 0-2, Bulgaria 3-1 (Group 12 runners-up)

Key players: Lauri Dalla Valle (striker, Liverpool FC), Teemu Pukki (striker, Sevilla FC)

AUSTRIA
Austria coach Andreas Heraf has plenty to ponder as he plots his side's campaign without a number of key players. First-choice goalkeeper Heinz Lindner, defenders Christopher Dibon and Stefan Schwab, midfielders Christopher Drazan and David Alaba and striker Andreas Weimann are all missing due to injury or club commitments, leaving Heraf with a selection dilemma. "We expect more players to drop out, so we will have to go to Serbia with a squad full of debutants and young players," the coach told uefa.com. "We're still hoping for a good tournament, though, and we'll give our best in all three games."

Qualifying round: FYR Macedonia 2-2, Iceland 3-0, Sweden 1-1 (Group 8 runners-up)

Key players: Aleksandar Dragović (defender, FK Austria Wien), Christoph Kröpfl (striker, SK Sturm Graz), Christian Klem (midfielder, SK Sturm Graz), Kevin Hacker (defender, SK Sturm Graz)