Antonio Cassano doing Antonio Cassano things. (Getty)

Antonio Cassano, Italy

An off-and-on member of the Italian squad for over 10 years, this will be 31-year-old Cassano's first World Cup after joining Parma and having his best season in some time. That, of course, after recovering from a stroke and subsequent heart surgery in 2012.

This is a man who, in the absence of Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic, is probably the only player at the 2014 World Cup who has his own word — "Cassanata" — which was coined by former Roma and current Russia manager Fabio Capello as a euphemism for Cassano's easily sparked tantrums and defiance of societal expectations. This is also a man who claimed in his autobiography that he's "often played great matches after having sex." And that while he was playing for Real Madrid, he had a waiter friend who would bring three or four croissants to his hotel room after he finished the deed (he estimates he's been with 600 to 700 women) and then escort his partner away so he could eat his pastries in peace.

Since the stroke, he has calmed down a bit, as tends to happen with those sorts of things, and he lost weight for the World Cup by reducing his focaccia intake. He scored a goal at Euro 2012 and as Italy's oldest (by five years) and most experienced striker, it might need him to do even more in Brazil.

安東尼奧·卡薩諾（Antonio Cassano），意大利

31歲的卡薩諾過去十年在意大利國家隊起起落落，將在加入帕爾馬經歷了最好的賽季后第一次參加世界杯。而在此之前，他在2012年經歷了一次中風，并接受心臟手術。

卡薩諾是瑞典球星伊布拉希莫維奇(Zlatan Ibrahimovic)缺席本屆世界杯后，唯一有自己專屬詞匯的球星——卡薩納塔（Cassanata）！這個詞匯來自于前羅馬俱樂部主師，現俄羅斯國家隊主教練法比奧·卡佩羅（Fabio Capello）。他用委婉表達卡薩諾的暴脾氣以及對社會期望的蔑視。卡薩諾還在自傳中宣稱自己在性生活后總是打出偉大的比賽。當卡薩諾在皇馬時，他的一個侍者朋友常帶3到4個羊角面包到他的酒店房間，在他完事兒以后（他自己估計有600到700個女人），他會送走床伴，安靜享用自己的點心。

自從中風以后，卡薩諾老實了一些，因為當時他正在攪合那檔子事。并且，為了世界杯，他甚至少吃了香草橄欖油面包來減重。2012歐洲杯，他只進了一球，作為意大利最年長和最富經驗的前鋒（比其他前鋒大5歲），巴西世界杯上意大利需要他做得更多。