The website squer.it asked Cesare Prandelli to give a list of the most representative player for each of the 32 World Cup finalists in Brazil 2014. SerieAddicted recently questioned the leadership of the Azzurri, but apparently the Italian coach doesn’t have the same doubt. In fact, he clarified, “It was easy to write down this list. They are the best players, the most talented ones. Football can’t be played on paper, obviously, but if I think of these players, I’m intrigued, they make me want to see them play.”

 

Cesare’s mind games. Prandelli picked Gigi Buffon to join Messi (Argentina), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Neymar (Brazil ), Ribery (France) and Iniesta (Spain) in what is quite an elite list of players, to say the least. Gigi Buffon will play his fifth World Cup and, at 36, is still among the best goalkeepers in the world. More than his technical abilities, Prandelli chose to reward his leadership skills, without which Italy would be lost, on and off the pitch.

 

A message for the new generation? In selecting a veteran goalkeeper in a list of “talented players that he wants to see play” (the only n. 1 in the list), Prandelli is, on the one hand rewarding the commitment of one of the greatest of Italian football, but on the other hand he’s telling some of his players, who are expected to lead Italy to a successful Brazilian campaign, that he still doesn’t consider them at the level they consider themselves. One name above all: Mario Balotelli. Yes “always him”.

Reading between the lines, Prandelli told him that he still isn’t at the level of the world’s greatest, and he still doesn’t consider him ready to lead such an important national team like Italy. And he doesn’t even make it a question of age: Muller is just a few months older than Supermario, whilst Neymar is two years younger, and despite this he picked them to lead two powerhouses- probably the two strongest sides today- like Germany and Brazil.

Cesare Prandelli chose a very subtle, silent, way to convey his credo, away from the spotlight and avoiding another media campaign against Balotelli, which is the last thing he’d need right now. Hopefully his words will have reached their destination, and hopefully they will be used as an additional motivating factor to improve, by one of the most talented, yet unpredictable players of this generation, who still has to decide whether he wants to be the new Antonio Cassano or the new Roberto Baggio.

 

The full list: Neymar (Brazil), Iniesta (Spain), Muller (Germany), Messi (Argentina), Falcao (Colombia), Hazard (Belgium), Inler (Switzerland), Suarez (Uruguay), Robben (Netherlands), Buffon (Italy), Rooney (England), Ronaldo (Portugal), Mitroglou (Greece), Pjanic (Bosnia), Mandzukic (Croatia), Kerzakov (Russia), Sanchez (Chile), Drogba (Ivory Coast), Ribery (France), Valencia (Ecuador), Boateng (Ghana), Feghouli (Algeria), Obi Mikel (Nigeria), Eto’o (Cameroon), Donovan (Usa), Chicharito (Mexico), Ruiz (Costa Rica), Costly (Honduras), Kagawa (Japan), Nekounam (Iran), Ji Dong Won (South Korea), Cahill (Australia).