3 – Antonio Cassano
Antonio Cassano is one of the greatest Italian talents never to have played a World Cup. Left out in 2002 for being too young, excluded in 2006 for his self-destructive club career, and ostracised in 2010 by the caprice of his coach, we are all hoping he may make it to the 2014 edition.
His presence on this list rests on his two fabulous, if ultimately unfortunate, European tournaments in 2004 and 2012 (and his slightly more opaque 2008 showing). At his debut tournament in 2004, he shone like a comet despite starting only two games, scoring twice (out of the team’s total three goals) and almost saving the Azzurri from their final humiliation.
In 2008 he was out of shape in a team that had no shape in the first place, and could not do much with his limited minutes. In 2012 he was the firmest point in an otherwise uncertain front-line, and he notched a goal and an assist, both beautiful, and all the more remarkable since he was returning from a heart operation.
Technically speaking, Cassano started out as a dribbling seconda punta and evolved into a free-roaming assist-man – an atypical trajectory. A player of unquestionable talent, marred throughout his career by a deplorable lack of self-discipline, he always gave his all for the national team and he remains a joy to watch when he is in full flow. As it is a given that he could not have had better feet, we can only dream of what he might have done with better brains and better fortune.
