Italy copy Juve blueprint: three at the back Gilardino steps into Balotelli's shoes

Cesare Prandelli is set to ring the changes ahead of Italy's crunch semi-final with Spain. The first is that Gilardino will replace the injured Balotelli, a widely expected move confirmed by reports filtering out of the Italy camp following this morning's training session at the Estadio Presidente Vargas in Fortaleza. Where no media were allowed in. Gila for Balo means like for like, so the team won't have 

to drastically change the way they've been playing at the Confederations Cup so far.

NEW-LOOK DEFENCE, PIRLO BACK IN — That's not all, though. The Azzurri coach also tried out a three-man defence in training this morning. A trio of Juve players, Bonucci, Barzagli and Chiellini - the same set-up deployed against La Roja in the group stage of last summer's Euros. Back then it worked: Italy performed well and the game finished 1-1. The widemen in what could be a 3-4-2-1 are likely to be Maggio and Giaccherini. And in this case too it would mean retracing the same steps taken in Gdańsk last June, when the Juve player operated on the left wing. Pirlo is expected to recover and take the reins again in midfield, as Marchisio confirmed in today's press conference. And De Rossi will come back in alongside him – he only missed the Brazil match due to suspension. Candreva and Marchisio have the edge over Montolivo for the two berths behind the frontman. The Lazio player currently looks to be one of the fittest Azzurri, and Prandelli has stressed the importance of having 'athletes' more than footballers considering the energy-sapping climate.

GIVE IT YOUR BEST SHOT, GILA — So Gilardino up top. Which means Giovinco misses out despite grabbing the matchwinner against Japan. Of course Prandelli is still testing out possible line-ups to take on Spain, and could easily revert to four in defence, with Maggio dropping back and Chiellini sliding out to the left. There's another training session this afternoon, open to the media for the first 15 minutes. Then it will be covert operations as the team run through tactics and movements. The coach doesn't want to give the slightest advantage to Spain, unbeaten in 25 games, European and world champions. That's why he'll keep shuffling his pack up until kick-off. But to win, he'll still need to pull out a trump card. 

Sumber : ( La gazzetta dello sport )