Have The Mind Game Begun? Italian Manager Praises England

Recently Italian manager Cesare Prandelli has spoken about England the the new crop of talent that is currently forcing its way through. You know the likes of Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling, Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshere, Ross Barkley, Jordan Henderson, Andros Townsend, Jay Rodriguez etc etc

The point being, the team that faces Italy during the opening round of games in Brazil, is likely to be very different to the team that the Azzurri knocked out of Euro 2012.

"I think England have improved a lot," he said. "They have discovered new players, especially the wingers, and athletic players who run a lot."

"Despite the fact we dominated that game, we weren't able to score - I'm sure this will be a totally different match to the one we played two years ago,"

"We'll find a different England, with different footballers, because like I said, in the last months they have been good and lucky enough to scout new and talented players."

We will have a different team, but so will Italy and they have some impressive youngsters of their own, guys like Mattia De Sciglio, Marco Verratti, Mattia Destro, Lorenzo Insigne, Alessandro Florenzi, Mario Balotelli, Stephan El Shaarawy. The point being both teams are in a similar situation and I wouldn't believe what managers say in the build up, although he has a point, we have gotten better on the wings.