Prandelli: Croatia well primed to test Italy
Reuters - Wednesday 13 June 2012, 17:59
Croatia's ability to
vary their tactics, their intensity and their physical prowess
make them a very different prospect to facing Spain, Italy coach
Cesare Prandelli warned on Wednesday.
Italy came into the tournament on the back of a match-fixing
scandal back home and three consecutive friendly defeats in
which they failed to score but surpassed expectations in their
1-1 draw with Spain on Sunday.
However, after watching Croatia's performance in their 3-1
win over Ireland, Prandelli said Thursday's opponents were
possibly more dangerous than the European and world champions.
"They're a very well organised team, a characteristic is
that they always want to get high up the pitch and they're a
team which can change their system during the game," he warned.
"They can play with two centre-halves and two central
midfielders, or a diamond system, or three midfielders behind a
striker.
"We've followed them for a while, and they can change their
system, they know each other very well, they have great
intensity in their game and they're very difficult to overcome
from a physical perspective.
"We saw the video and talked about it and we know we're
going to struggle a bit more because of the way they play
football."
However, Prandelli rejected a suggestion from his rival
coach Slaven Bilic, who claimed in an earlier news conference
than Croatia playmaker Luka Modric was a better playmaker than
Italy's Andrea Pirlo.
"Modric is a great player but to say he's better than
Andrea, he needs to start winning some trophies because players
are remembered for what they have won in medals," said
Prandelli.
Prandelli singled out Antonio Cassano for praise and refused
to comment on the controversial striker's comments the day
before.
Cassano, back in action after undergoing a minor heart
operation last October, said he hoped there were no homosexuals
in the national team, later apologising for the remark.
"We're not going to keep talking about this, we've got to
smile and focus on the questions to do with tomorrow's game,"
said Prandelli.
"Sincerely, he gave his all against Spain, he's only 70
percent fit but he gives 100 percent. He set up the chance, he
succeeded in his dribbling and I hope he continues this way."