Sampdoria striker Antonio Cassano accepts he has zero chance of making Italy's World Cup squad. Since mending his differences with coach Gigi del Neri, Cassano has been back to his best with Samp.

Cassano said: "I am Italian, I will support Italy. Go Italy!

"(Marcello) Lippi is a very good tactician. This story of my call up to La Nazionale bothers other people more than me.

"Evidently someone thinks I am a pain in the a**, but I am not a primadonna or an a**-licker.

"In football there are only puppets who say yes, but I am not one of them. I don't know what diplomacy is."