The Azzurri came from behind three times to beat the Oceania champions 4-3 in yesterday's international friendly in Pretoria.

Fiorentina striker Alberto Gilardino and Juventus forward Vincenzo Iaquinta scored two apiece to hand the world champions victory.

"It was a good practice match, a good day's work," said Lippi. "We needed to work on certain aspects of our game and we did that.

"I left out many of our veteran players from the team to give more minutes to the younger players."

The Azzurri looked frail in defence and Lippi admitted his side still have some work to do ahead of next week's Confederations Cup opener against CONCACAF winners United States.

"We made mistakes and New Zealand made us pay for them," said Lippi. "But we reacted and made amends.

"Mistakes always worry me but you can always learn from them and that is what we will do in the next few days."

Iaquinta was satisfied with the determination shown by the Azzurri.

"We struggled early on," he said." But fortunately, our quality came out.

"We showed character and determination to turn around the result.

"The good news is that our condition is improving so we should be in good form for the Confederations Cup."

Italy will also take on Brazil and African Cup of Nations champions Egypt in Group B.