Brazil comeback gives Italy reason to dream of World Cup glory

Date: 24th March 2013 at 6:44pm
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It was a friendly like no other, a re-affirmation that if you assemble a bunch of professional athletes together that want to win then it doesn’t really matter if they don’t have anything to play for.

Italy and Brazil sparkled and gleamed like they were competing for World Cup gold, and Italy may have discovered a few gems along the way that’ll surely come in handy when the rehearsals are over.

Brazil are by no means the universal yardstick in which to measure teams by like they used to be; that mantle has fallen to Spain. That said, the Selecao are not a team without talent, shown by the two excellent goals the Samba boys put past the Azzurri in the first half – most notably a delicious Neymar-Oscar combination that led to the second strike. One would assume that exact partnership will bear the burden of goal scoring responsibility when the World Cup begins in June 2014.

For the Azzurri, we can be sure that one man at least will be a part of the starting trident or duo come June next year, and that’s Mario Balotelli. The Milan striker has rescued a career that British journalists prematurely called “over” after his exit from Manchester City, with seven goals in six games for the Rossoneri. Against Brazil, Balotelli capped off his excellent run of form with a superbly taken goal and a gesticulation that nearly looked like a celebration from the enigmatic forward.

Balotelli’s rise in form has appropriately coincided with a rush of optimism for all things Azzurri. A collection of fresh young faces have burst into Cesare Prandelli’s side, such as Mattia De Sciglio and Stephan El Shaarawy, and they have added to an established squad of quality. Meanwhile, Juventus – the peninsula’s benchmark – have returned to the continental fore, which is just another factor slowly pushing Italy back on to her feet.

It’s not just the goals that remain a positive, the resilience shown by La Nazionale to come from behind married with the intensity and pressing that Prandelli managed to eke out of a side that is usually lackadaisical in non-competitive competition is a reason to be cheerful for the former Fiorentina tactician. Include the fact that the result was garnered without Giorgio Chiellini or Domenico Criscito at the back and still without a permanent option at the right wing position in the seemingly first choice 4-3-3 (although Giuseppe Rossi could be more than capable should he return to fitness and form), and this result, even if it was just a draw, was another tick for Cesare’s savoy soldiers.

That positivity can only increase when one considers the players that didn’t feature in Geneva against Brazil, but still could be very exciting prospects come tournament time. The likes of Frederico Marchetti, Marco Veratti, Alessando Florenzi, Angelo Ogbonna among many others could also play a part next year.

Prandelli has proven with an eye for talent, respect for experience and an open attitude towards youth that he can maintain a squad’s quality and freshness whilst also keep performances consistently high.  The appearance in the Euro 2012 final wasn’t a fluke, and Italy have no reason not to believe that 2014 could be the year they go one step further.

 

One response to “Brazil comeback gives Italy reason to dream of World Cup glory”

  1. Jana says:

    I wish Brazil had a as good of a soccer team as Canada.