No excuses - we must win, Prandelli says ahead of Costa Rica match By Nick Rigillo

"We knew we would find heat and humidity [in Recife]. We have no excuses. It is not the climate that scares us, but our opponents," Prandelli said.

The Italy-Costa Rica game will be played at 1 pm local time (1600 GMT), with temperatures expected to peak at 27 degrees in the shade. The humidity is also a concern.

"The Latin American teams present at this World Cup have a lot of energy. These are games in which we are going to have to suffer. But we have our own idea of how we want to play and we must win," Prandelli added.

Italy take on Costa Rica on Friday with the teams level on points in Group D. But the Latin Americans are ahead of Italy on goal difference following their 3-1 defeat of Uruguay.

Had it not been for that victory, Friday's game would have been labelled a David vs Goliath affair.

But Costa Rica are now brimming with confidence.

The game against Uruguay "has given us trust, confidence and the knowledge that we can play as a team," coach Jorge Luis Pinto said. "Now we hope to play even better" against Italy."

Costa Rica defender Giancarlo Gonzalez, who plays his club football in the United States, was in an equally buoyant mood.

"We definitely have more confidence in ourselves now, and we are very motivated," he said.

The coach singled out Italy striker Mario Balotelli as a threat and conceded that his team would try to prevent Andrea Pirlo from dominating play at midfield.

"I have been studying Pirlo since the 2006 World Cup, where I think he was Italy's best player," Pinto said. "We are going to try and block him."

Apart from Arsenal striker Joel Campbell, the Costa Ricans are not household names in world football.

Asked about what it felt like to play against world stars of the calibre of Balotelli, Gonzalez said: "I am proud to play against players who are known all over the world. We'll let the world know that we are here."

Costa Rica have no major fitness concerns, with Pinto declining to say whether he would field the same team that demolished Uruguay.

"Prandelli and I will try to guess who the other will field. This is a poker game," the Colombian coach said.

Italy, meanwhile, still have fitness doubts over goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and defender Andrea Barzagli.

"Until tomorrow I cannot say who will play. Barzagli had a few problems but today he was much better. If he no longer has any pain tomorrow, he will play, otherwise someone else will take his place... Buffon has been able to train," Prandelli said.

Italy are expected to once again field Balotelli as the lone striker.

The AC Milan forward, who was on target in Italy's 2-1 defeat of England, praised Costa Rica, although he conceded that he didn't know his opponents very well.

"The way to respect them is to give it 200 per cent," he said of Friday's opponents.