Croatia coach Neven Spahija has set his sights on a top-six finish in the EuroBasket as he targets qualification for next year's FIBA World Championship.

Spahija saw his team warm up for the Belgrade finals with two wins and a loss in a friendly competition in Podgorica, Serbia & Montenegro.

Having begun with a narrow 74-71 defeat at the hands of the hosts, Croatia bounced back to beat 2003 EuroBasket champions Lithuania 81-76 and Slovenia 75-70.

However, Spahija felt there was much room for improvement in his side's performances.

"This tournament in Podgorica shows what can do in Belgrade but also what we need to work on in the next few days," he said.

"Our first problem is keeping hold of the ball. In the game against Serbia & Montenegro we lost it 26 times."

If those problems can be solved, Spahija sees plenty of reason for optimism.

"We need to go to World Championship 2006, so we need to be among the first six teams (in Belgrade). We think we can do this."

Spahija can be encouraged by the number of different players making contributions in the three games.

Gordan Giricek (20 points) and Dalibor Bagaric (11) were the top scorers against Serbia & Montenegro, while Zoran Planinic and Nikola Vujcic (both 16) took responsibility against Lithuania.

In the win over Slovenia, Mario Kasun (16) and Planinic (12) were the top scorers.

Spahija must now slim down his roster by a further three players ahead of the EuroBasket. Damir Markota and Ivan Tomas were both cut prior to the Podgorica tournament.