Who Ate All The (Glory) Pies?

Antonio Cassano should be one of the best players in the world, but I think I prefer his career the way he has done it. His glorious relationship with Gianpaolo Pazzini at Sampdoria surely indicates he can put the last few years behind him and look to a future among Europe's eilte. Perhaps once the Sampdoria adventure is over (Heres hoping it could be as glorious as the early 90's ), a stint leading Juve to their first post scandal Scudetto with Pazzini in tow? Oh God. The thought of Cassano-Pazzini-Diego-Giovinco-Chielini-Aged Buffon-Cameos from Del Pel would be so so so beautifully, amazingly rad. It would cost like 25 - 30 million to prize those two away from Samp? I will gladly buy Fiats for the rest of my life if you could make this happen Juve. Seriously.

But back to the point in hand. Cassano's dark days at Madrid are summed up best by a bit of Wikipedia vandalism;

''Continuing reports of his erratic and anti-social attitude, his expanding waistline, due to a weakness for chocolate, cakes and more cakes, as well as soft drinks, beer, sweets and pies, led in May 2006 to Madrid fining him for every gram he remains overweight''. Check the source

Makes you realise what a ginormous risk Samp were taking. Huuuuge. But by God did it pay of. The old Cassano is back. Yes, so there is still the occasional clothes off tantrum but it is more than offset by the influence Fantonio had on this super loveable Sampdoria side. And to be fair, that Torino player went straight for the neck. That is going to make anyone angry. But yeah, it is nice to think that Mr Cassano feels at home in a team that is down the local Ristorante after every game. That is the way it should be. The fact that Mr Cassano is in a team currently second in Serie A surely indicates a call up is in order. That too, is how it should be.

So over to you Marcelo, why no call up? It is seems like a repeat of the Baggio-Trapatoni farce of 2002, and we all know how that ended. Cassano and Pazzini are the best strikeforce in Serie A since the dawn of 2009, both are italian and neither are in the Azzurri set up. So Di Natale is on fire and Gilardino scored last night, but Iaquinta could be sacrificed for one of these two, at least for two games where one point was needed. Italy have a wealth of options going into South Africa, but I am sure that leaving Cassano at home would be a mistake