Croatia counting on home help

CROATIA
Croatia are hoping to make the most of home advantage are they look to reach the finals for the first time, with their success so far based on a solid defence that was breached only once in the qualifying round and kept clean sheets in four warm-up friendlies in March against Slovakia (two 2-0 wins) and Hungary (1-0, 0-0). "We are optimists but it won't be easy," said coach Ivan Grnja. "The crucial match could be the first one. We have a problem for that as some players will be in the Under-21 team but we will try to deal with the situation as best we can and look to win the group."

Qualifying round: Estonia 3-0, Lithuania 2-1, Switzerland 1-0 (Group 4 winners)

Key players: Mario Tičinović (midfielder, HNK Hajduk Split), Andrej Kramarić (forward, NK Dinamo Zagreb)

SCOTLAND
Billy Stark's side have played two away games since qualifying, securing an impressive goalless draw against Germany in November before running out 3-2 winners in Luxembourg last month. Stark, who has lost several key players to injury and suffered elimination at this stage a year ago, said: "We acquitted ourselves well in last year's tournament before the pace and power of England eventually got the better of us and hopefully that experience will drive us on. With home advantage and in terms of ability, Croatia will rightly consider themselves favourites, but Belgium and Montenegro, like ourselves, will feel the group is fairly open."

Qualifying round: Romania 3-0, Armenia 6-1, Austria 0-1 (Group 6 winners)

Key players: Grant Hanley (centre-back, Blackburn Rovers FC), Fraser Fyvie (attacking midfielder, Aberdeen FC), James Forrest (striker, Celtic FC)

BELGIUM
Coach Marc Van Geersom has prepared his team with two home games against Denmark in early March, with a 3-1 defeat preceding a 2-0 victory, before two Christian Kabasele goals helped the Red Devils recover from two goals down to win 4-2 in Luxembourg on 20 April. "We're in a very even group, with four teams who are pretty well matched," said Van Geersom. "The form on the day will therefore decide who progresses and who doesn't."

Qualifying round: Andorra 4-0, Kazakhstan 4-0, Norway 2-4 (Group 11 runners-up)

Key players: Gianni Bruno (forward, LOSC Lille Métropole), Kevin De Bruyne (midfielder, KRC Genk), Christian Kabasele (forward, KAS Eupen)

MONTENEGRO
Having become the first Montenegro youth team to negotiate a qualifying round, there have been changes ahead of the elite round with coach Miodrag Radulović leaving for a club job in Uzbekistan and Aleksandar Miljenović taking over. "We're underdogs but we will fight, that's for sure," said Miljenović, who is without five suspended players for the first match against Scotland. Montenegro prepared with games against Bosnia-Herzegovina at home (2-0, 0-0) last month, and Hungary away in March (0-1, 4-4) and, though two more fixtures against France were postponed due to travel problems, the coach is quietly confident. "I was very satisfied with what I saw against two quality opponents; those matches give me optimism that we can match very strong teams," said Miljenović.

Qualifying round: Sweden 0-0, Ukraine 1-1, Georgia 1-1 (Group 12 runners-up)

Key players: Stefan Savić (defender, BSK Borča), Andrija Simunović (defender, OFK Grbalj), Stefan Denković (forward, FK Crvena Zvezda)