Bosnia and Herzegovina national junior football team is preparing in Zenica for the upcoming European Championship Elite Round of Qualifying.

Before he left the FFBIH training center, our Under-19 team head coach Toni Karacic commented on the preparations:

"The weather was great and we had excellent conditions here in the training camp. The guys have worked very well. We also had two exhibition games and four training sessions. We've gained some insight into their form and we're very happy with how everything went."

Few members from abroad were missing, but the coach had a chance to see some new players in action:

"The problem is that all of this falls out of the FIFA calendar, and some European clubs didn't allow their players footballers to come. Nevertheless, several new players got the chance to show their skills, and we also wanted to expand our roster. We're going to keep an eye on them, and soon we'll have a clear picture of what kind of lineup will perform at the tournament in France", said Karacic.

Immediately after finding out the names of their opponents in the qualifying round, BiH U-19 coaching staff began to collect information about them and analyze their game. Karacic believes there are no bad teams in the Elite Round:

"We've collected a lot of material and we watched many games. France is one of the top football teams in the world, but Israel also impressed me with their quality. Bulgaria is similar to us, they have some great individuals. All teams that have qualified for this phase possess certain quality. The most important is that we prepare for the tournament as best as we can. We have to represent our country in the right way, and if the opportunity arises we'll grab it."

France will host the Group 5 qualifying tournament from March 22-27 this year.