The Italian national team manager Cesare Prandelli has said that he is extremely happy with the performance of his players in the recent friendly match against England. Italy lost in the match 2-1, but the national team manager has said that he cannot fault the performance put in by his players. This was a rematch of the Euro 2012 quarter-finals, in which Italy came out on the successful side after having won the match on penalties. This time around, they could not repeat the same performance, as they went down to the third placed team in world football.

The Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi opened the scoring for the Italians, but they were unable to prevent Jermain Defoe and Phil Jagielka from helping England win the match by coming back from behind. After the match, Prandelli has said that he is not worried about the result of the encounter. He, however, is looking for a much better performance from his players, which he got in this match. As a result, he is more than satisfied with his current team, which will be soon playing in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Italy are in the same group containing the likes of Bulgaria.

“We showed character and we have to continue along this path. I really liked our performance. Defeats are still defeats, also in friendlies, but I saw plenty of positives. This was a useful game as we’re preparing for the World Cup qualifiers. It is important to gain an insight into which young players have the quality to play for the national team already,” said Prandelli after the match. The Italian national team manager Prandelli has received a lot of praise for getting the national team to the finals of the Euro 2012, although they lost badly in the match.