New Birmingham City player Nikola Zigic has admitted he is keen to play a lead role for Serbia at this year's World Cup.

The 29-year old former Valencia man is preparing for the tournament in South Africa with his Serbia teammates and is confident he can help the team achieve success against their Group D rivals Germany, Ghana and Australia.

"When the draw (for the qualifiers) was made, nobody thought of us as favourites, not even ourselves," Zigic told FIFA.com. "At the start we thought we'd be playing for second place, but then we started winning games and we just grew in confidence. This was key and we never lost our rhythm.

"Tactically, I have learned a lot and I'm in much better condition, both physically and psychologically,'' he said. ''This is my World Cup, I think I can play a lead role and I want to show I'm a player that can do it in big games.

''We believe we are capable of qualifying from this group. We know it won't be easy and we face some tough opponents, but we want to continue our form from qualifying and show that we can take on any team in the world."

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