Five things we learned from Brazil's 4-2 win over Italy

Forward options for Prandelli

Stephan El Shaarawy adds much-needed pace and agility to the Italian attack

The choices for the attacking positions in the Italian side are aplenty, and Prandelli had the chance to use the options on the bench due to the injuries and premature substitutions. In Giaccherini, Diamanti and El Shaarawy, Prandelli has at his disposal three top quality attacking midfielders who will create chances for the centre forward, Mario Balotelli. Against Brazil, barring a phase in the second half, when Italy were trailing 2-3, the forwards simply didn’t receive the desired service to have an impact on a consistent basis. El Shaarawy adds agility and speed to the attacks, whereas Diamanti is more of a clever player looking for gaps and space to release the ball. Balotelli completes the attack with his street-smart game, as his flick-on for the Giaccherini goal showed. So in that sense, Prandelli has the luxury of fielding a variety of attack-minded, goal-scoring players.