Italy 1-1 Germany: Assessing Prandelli's Full-Back Options After San Siro Draw

Italy earned a respectable 1-1 draw on Friday against Germany, one of the favourites to win the World Cup next summer.

Ignazio Abate replied after Matts Hummels had given Joachim Loew's side the lead at the San Siro.

Cesare Prandelli's side is somewhat settled, but there is an area of the team that remains undecided, as the full-back starting places are still up for grabs.

Both right-back Abate and left-back Domenico Criscito gave confident enough displays to suggest that Prandelli could be persuaded to persevere with them.

Aside from his superb goal, Abate was solid throughout, displaying his electric pace and an ability to pin the opposition's left-back back with his adventurous forays forward.

Criscito was equally impressive, but unlike Abate, the Zenit St. Petersburg player showed more defensive solidarity and was more composed on the ball.

Criscito is perhaps more assured of his left-back place due to less competition, but the 26-year-old is a great asset to the Azzurri and adds great balance as a natural left-footer, which is not the case when Mattia De Sciglio fills in on the left-hand side.

Angelo Ogbonna does not have enough experience at left-back to be a viable option in the near future, unless there is a particular attacking threat from the right of the opposition, while Manuel Pasqual is not the same player that he is for Fiorentina when asked to defend in a back four.

Federico Balzaretti has been better at Roma this season than last, but he should not trouble Criscito when he is fully fit. Meanwhile, fitness is currently the problem with De Sciglio; it may hurt his chances of starting on either side of a back four for Italy in Brazil next summer.

The Milan youngster has exceptional ability and is already on the verge of ousting Abate for the Rossoneri, if only Massimiliano Allegri had a stronger option at left-back or De Sciglio showed less willingness to shift over to the opposite side of the pitch.

So Abate would appear to be first in line if De Sciglio's physical issues continue to bother him, which gives Prandelli a less secure option down the right, which can influence his selection further forward—both in the midfield or in the attacking trident of a 4-3-3.

Prandelli would need to select a more defensive-minded centre-midfielder, one with tactical awareness to be able to cover Abate when he ventures forward, which reduces the flow of the passing game in the midfield from which Prandelli likes to build.

Although Prandelli encourages the centre-midfielders to rotate and shuffle both laterally and horizontally, Riccardo Montolivo is particularly good at demonstrating this tactical awareness, thus providing Abate with freedom to dart into those advanced positions.

Prandelli is not overly keen to see his full-backs perform in such a way, but unlike Christian Maggio, Abate possesses enough speed to be able to recover from his occasional positional mishaps.

This also allows him to recover when beaten for skill by the opposing winger, which is a tendency he shares with Maggio and could be of some concern to Prandelli, if that winger has enough pace to maintain the space created by that skill in the first place.

Moving forward, it could be that Abate has the edge on De Sciglio due to his extra penetration when joining the attack, something that he was able to show when combining with Leonardo Bonucci to score the equaliser.

So De Sciglio has a fight on his hands to first regain his fitness and then demonstrate why he deserves the right-back jersey with both Milan and the Azzurri.

And although we know that he is technically a better defender, De Sciglio will need to offer something more in an attacking sense to be able to displace Abate, perhaps his more consistently accurate crossing.

Prandelli might not have decided just yet, but encouraging performances in the friendly with Germany certainly will have helped sway him towards pencilling both Abate and Criscito into the starting line-up for Brazil next summer.