Italy in the Confederations Cup

Italy's overall performance in the Confederations Cup was on the good side. They dominated Mexico in their opening game. Then, had a wild, mishap with Japan, but won 4-3 and then lastly, lost to Brazil 4-2 in a match they were generally outplayed. In the semi-final, they outplayed for about 105 of the 120 minutes and deserved to go onto the final, but lost in PKs only because a CB missed his penalty kick(it's ok Bonucci, you did your job). Inconsistent, yes, but remember Italy was battling injuries throughout the tournament. They were with out Mario Balotelli and Ignazio Abate for the match against Spain. With the way Italy played against Spain, if they had Balotelli, it was almost a guarantee they would've been up atleast 2-0 by halftime and would have gone onto the final. Before I move on, I just want to say that Prandelli did a good job, but he did make bad substitutions throughout the tournament and that really hurt the team. He also made questionable call-ups like Gilardino and Aquilani. Besides all that, Azzurri fans, you have A LOT to look forward to. With a few tweeks and some injuries to go away, this team is an easy candidate for becoming World Cup champions. With young players coming up like Lorenzo Insigne, Marco Verratti and Mattia Perin, the future is very, very bright, not to mention countless other players coming through the ranks. My only concern is Stephan El Shaarawy. He finally started a game and was utterly useless throughout the entire match against Uruguay today. His only bright spot was that he made his penalty. Hopefully, he goes back to Milanello and sits down and talks with Galliani and he can get his career back on track. I still have tons of belief in him as he and Balotelli can become one of the best striker pairings in the world. All the criticism that Prandelli took was completely undeserved. The man has completely revitalized Italy from 2010 and changed the way the national team is looked at in terms of style of play. He his my favorite manager in the world right now and I would love to see him come to Milan after the World Cup. Besides Spain(who are by far and beyond the best team in the world), I think Italy is at the top of the football world right now with still a lot to improve on and things that won't be too hard to improve on to begin with.