Determined Djukić focused on future

Serbia coach Miroslav Djukić refused to get carried away despite Boško Janković's strike deep into added time that secured victory against the Czech Republic in Nijmegen, first position in UEFA European Under-21 Championship Group B and a place in the semi-finals against the Group A runners-up in Arnhem next Wednesday. Although understandably delighted with his side's achievement, Djukić remained keen for Serbia to continue their good work, while his opposite number Ladislav Škorpil was philosophical after a defeat that left his team bottom of the section, although still in contention to reach the last four.

Miroslav Djukić, Serbia coach
All my team gave their best tonight and, again, did exactly as I told them. The Czech Republic played very well, we expected a hard, tough game and that's exactly what we got. We're very happy because we have achieved two objectives; we're into the semi-finals and we've qualified for next year's Olympic Games. I'm more than satisfied, we kept going until the end. In the last few minutes our wingers and full-backs all pressed forward looking for that goal and we deserved it when we got it. Collectively we're very strong, our unity is our main strength. We'll not stop here, we'll continue to put in brilliant performances and win games.

Ladislav Škorpil, Czech Republic coach
The result is sad for us, but our performance was quite good when you consider the quality of our opponents. Football is about scoring goals and Serbia did that right at the end of the game while we didn't manage it in the whole match. I certainly can't joke about the shooting power of my team any more. This isn't the first time in my career that I've lost to such a late goal, there've not been too many but I'm just grateful I'm still alive after losing like that. I'm not sure if we can get through, we're left looking at other matches. We've focused only on our team and our performances up until this point, but now we have to rely on other results going our way.