Italy's normally fussy coach Roberto Donadoni hailed a ''great'' display in Wednesday night's 3-1 friendly win over Portugal in Zurich.
''Usually I'm hard to please. But these lads were great, they showed it again,'' the coach said after goals from Real Madrid defender Fabio Cannavaro, Bayern Munich centre-forward Luca Toni and Udinese striker Fabio Quagliarella sank Portugal.
Donadoni was his usual self in preferring not to single out individuals but did say that ''the boys who come from the Under-21 squad are an important resource''.
Among others, he was referring to goalie Marco Amelia of Serie A minnows Livorno who stepped in for Gianluigi Buffon and Juventus winger Vincenzo Palladino who took up club-mate Mauro Camoranesi's duties.
The Italian press singled out Toni and AC Milan playmaker Andrea Pirlo as the heroes of the game and also highlighted solid performances from Toni's possible new back-up Marco Borriello of Genoa, Serie A's leading scorer.
Pirlo was unlucky not to be credited with Italy's opener, as his long shot only got the slightest flick off Cannavaro's heel before finding its way into the Portuguese net.
But World Cup winning captain Cannavaro was determined to claim the goal, quipping that he and fellow Neapolitan Quagliarella had shown ''Naples doesn't just produce rubbish''.
The match was one of the last chances for coach Roberto Donadoni to test newcomers to the 2006 World Cup-winning side for the European championship's 'Group of Death' against France, the Netherlands and Romania.
A March 26 friendly in Spain and Italy's last test against an as-yet unnamed opponent on May 30 could give possibles like mercurial Sampdoria striker Antonio Cassano their final opportunities to make it back into the running.
Former Roma star Cassano, who has been close to his old best for Samp lately, was one of the few bright spots in Italy's dismal Euro campaign in Portugal four years ago.
''I speak to the lad a lot,'' Donadoni said, adding that ''I'm not ruling anyone out, especially if they do well for their clubs''.
However, Juve captain Alessandro Del Piero again failed to make the squad against Portugal despite being in fine form for his club.
Del Piero was axed after a lack-lustre display in a goalless qualifier against France in September and most pundits think his fine club form has done little to change Donadoni's mind about bringing him back.
Italy's two main Euro 2008 group rivals had contrasting fortunes on Wednesday night with the Netherlands crushing Croatia 3-0 away and France losing 1-0 in Spain.
