Cassano believes the AC Milan cult hero can get the Azzurri's World Cup qualifying campaign back on the rails.
The former Milan and Roma star said on Viva el Futbol: "I heard from him, I wish him good luck. It's the best choice that could have been made, he's a great coach and in the last eight years he's been in six different countries, coaching complicated teams like Marseille, Valencia, Napoli. He has a great personality and great ideas.
"In interviews he keeps saying that today a Gattuso in his team wouldn’t play. I always tell him that a Gattuso, if you have to go to war, is always useful. But he has clear ideas, I am convinced that it is the best choice. I start from the assumption that the national team is not valid, but I am convinced that with Rino we will go to the World Cup.
"I hope so and he deserves it, both as a coach and as a person. And then we Italians deserve it. I don’t want to think negatively, I want to think that Rino will make it."