PRANDELLI IS GONNA GIVE ITALY ANOTHER TWO YEARS...BUT CAN HE TAKE THEM TO THE SUMMIT?

There you have it. There was talk that Prandelli would return back to club management. This may have been his last hurrah with the Azzurri. Two tournaments is ample enough. But looks like Prandelli sees something with this team, and perhaps wants these youngsters to reach their potential under his tutelage and get the job done in France in two years time. First...the World Cup.

I have some mixed feelings about the decision. Firstly, I think what Prandelli has done with Italy is great. After the embarrassment of South Africa, Italy needed new blood and it was Cesare that first brought the PREMIER black player for Italy. Since then, he has gone for the youth and tried to reinvent how people see Italian football.

That there is where my issue lies. Changing the DNA of a team can prove costly. Brazil wanted to play counter-attack in South Africa and got found out. You see Ivory Coast wanting to play like Europeans and they get beat by the African teams.

Italy by their very nature are NOT an attacking team. They always have been defensive and have produced some of the best defensive lines in the history of the sport. Prandelli, eager to make Italy more attractive, may be doing a detriment to their chances of lifting a major trophy. If Italy are to face Argentina, Brazil or Chile and play the cowboy football...I am afraid they would get beat up.The catenaccio has always reaped fruit for them as it did in 2006.

Whatever the case, Prandelli is in good hands. And he even knew how to changes things up when Italy faced Spain in the Confederations Cup and shut out the Spanish and could have won the game with some very good chances. The future is bright for Italy and it should be refreshing to see what the younger players can do in what will be a HUGE opportunity for them.


HH