Confederations, Prandelli: "El Shaarawy drained. Italy can beat anyone"

The time has come for Cesare Prandelli to weigh up the Confederations Cup experience, this appetizer for the upcoming World Cup finals here in Brazil. The Italy coach is pleased with the recent past and optimistic about the future, as he tries to patch together a team for tomorrow's third-place play-off against Uruguay. Players are still suffering from fatigue after the semi-final defeat to Spain, as they wait to see who will be fit enough to play. “We have shown that we are good enough to take anybody on. We forced Spain into playing a defensive game. Now we have to make the most of what we have learned from this tournament and show we can be up to it from an athletic point of view.” As regards the immediate future: “Uruguay have three excellent strikers and this will be the most difficult match to prepare for as regards tactics.” 

LINE-UP — “We are in trouble because we haven't had enough time to recover our strength after the Spain match. We'll have to try the players out in training, to see if they are fit to play, before naming the team.” Marchisio has been withdrawn, while Chiellini, De Rossi and Gilardino have question marks hanging over them, because they haven't fully recovered from the effort they put into the semi-final. 

THIRD PLACE — “What significance can a game like this have? It can add experience and continuity on our road to improvement. I'm banking on the motivation of players who haven't had much of a chance to show what they can do up to now. Maybe there's some re-thinking to be done about the format of this competition, with a third-place play-off in a tournament involving only eight teams.” 

THE OPPOSITION — “Uruguay have the right temperament and are a quality side, with their three extraordinary strikers (Cavani, Suarez and Forlan, Ed). This will be the most difficult match to prepare for from a tactical point of view.” 

CONF CUP EVALUATION — “Taking stock of the tournament? We can be proud of what we achieved here. We played extremely well in this Confederations Cup. It might be the first time we have managed to force Spain into playing a defensive game. We should be more confident in our ability. We must believe in our project. As far as football goes, we have shown we can cause problems for anyone. We need to play well and show we can do it all the time, not only when we have our backs against the wall. The various changes in formation? I'd love to change formation for each game in the World Cup but they'd have me arrested in Italy (he joked, concerning criticism of his lack of consistency regarding tactics, Ed)… In actual fact keeping your footballing philosophy is what counts. Pirlo's 100th cap for Italy at the Maracanà was golden.” 

COACHING SESSIONS — “Looking ahead to the World Cup and considering we should arrive in good physical shape for the finals, it would be good to make use of coaching sessions or at least a few days to evaluate the athletic condition of the Italy players.” 

WORLD CUP LOGISTICS — “We'll be trying to make some suggestions, as coaches, to FIFA to solve the problem of long-distance transfers. It's important that all of the teams are in the same condition.” 

THE PHARAOH — “El Shaarawy on the bench? I had a long chat with him in Coverciano. He wasn't in bad shape physically speaking, but the season had taken a lot out of him. He needs to call up even more resources and show more character. It isn't easy to recharge your batteries in such a short time. Will he be playing tomorrow? He needs to be ready to play.” 

DE SCIGLIO — AC Milan's 20-year-old defender also had something to say. “El Shaarawy? He looks fine to me. If he's picked, he'll be ready. I was really thrilled to play in the Confederations Cup; you don't play games at this level every day of the week. I have gained a lot in experience.”

Riccardo Pratesi - La gazzetta dello sport