Italy and Luxembourg are playing a World Cup friendly warm up match on Wednesday and the game comes ahead of Brazil 2014 for the Italian team and starts up at 2:45 ET and 8:45 pm local time and comes live from Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi in Verona as the team prepares to head to the WC, which begins on June 12 in Brazil.
Italy comes into the match knowing that Lux is not in the Brazil tournament and they have the chance to get some things in order as the match goes down, as they want to ensure their lineup is solid and their attacking is consistent. The team needs to play better defense after the way they performed last time they were in the World Cup and a win here should be easy. Italy will not play down to the competition and a victory in this match could give the team some momentum after their last matchup and Mario Balotelli comes in looking to play well.
The team comes in after a scoreless draw against Ireland and manager Cesare Prandelli said that he wants his team to play better on the back end and they will have the chance to do that against Lux. The Azzurri want to get things going before they play their first match and that is against England in a classic matchup from years ago and that will be a very anticipated matchup for the side and they feel that they can make it out of their group and that they are a favorite in the knockout round. Right now the odds have Brazil, Germany and Argentina and Ciro Immobile comes in as a key player and they will need him to play well.
Italy is in group D and that set has a number of teams that feel that they can make a run, including England, Costa Rica and Uruguay. The English side has some expectations after their last world cup and players like Wayne Rooney, Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge will need to step up and they could be a team that gets out of the group. Uruguay comes in with Luis Suarez and he has been excellent this year and comes in after his best season, leading Liverpool to a second place finish in the Premier League and he led the league in scoring.
Italy is a team that should get out of this group, but it will be very tough, as they open against England and that will be at the Arena Amazonia and that is the first matchup on June 14. The team will travel there and then plays against Costa Rica on June 20 at the Arena Pernambuco in Recife and then the finals matchup is in Natal against Uruguay and that could be the most important match for the team in the group. England starts with Italy and then plays against Uruguay and Costa Rica in their group matchups.
Check here for the Italy and Lux live coverage from the World Cup friendly schedule.
