Between Balotelli and Queen Elizabeth of England

Eccentric Italy forward Mario Balotelli has asked for a kiss on the cheek from Queen Elizabeth of England if Italy defeat Costa Rica in a crucial Group D match at the World Cup.

England is on brink of crashing out of the tournament in Brazil after losing 2-1 in two consecutive games to Italy and Uruguay respectively.

Using his Twitter handle @FinallyMario he tweeted: “If we beat Costa Rica I want a kiss, obviously on the cheek, from the UK Queen.”

England has a slim hope of qualifying for the World Cup second round but only if they defeat Costa Rica in their final group match but first Italy must Costa Rica and England must beat Costa Rica on Tuesday and hope Italy beat Uruguay on the same night.

Meanwhile, Prandelli expects conditions to favour the Costa Rica tonight.

“As far as I’m concerned the South American teams have an advantage not just because they live and work and operate under these conditions, but their explosiveness is different from that of European teams,” he said.

“Based on the data that we looked at and the matches we analysed, the Europeans withstand more (defensively) – they’re more resistant – but they are less explosive vis-a-vis their South American counterparts.”