The story of Antonio Cassano is like some kind of wild opera written in the streets on Italy’s hot south. A boy born the day after his country won the World Cup in 1982 and raised in the coarse neighbourhood of Barivecchia, he was a child prodigy with a football, a tearaway teenager, a man who fell ill on an aeroplane with Milan and needed heart surgery, a player who drifted out of the international scene for the past two years only to suddenly be handed an olive branch for Brazil.

Cassano is 31 and has never played a minute of World Cup football. “I would be the happiest man in the world if it happened,” he said during an encouraging season with Parma. It still felt like a long shot, even if he put himself on a diet, confessing he had shed 10kg to try to prove to Cesare Prandelli that he was serious enough to be a wild card. “I’m on a diet and I’ve stopped eating focaccine, except for once a week,” he said, with a typical pinch of heart-on-the-sleeve. Restricting himself when it comes to moreish bread seems to have done the trick. He can feast eventually. A last shot at the World Cup was worth every sacrifice.

Cassano’s opportunity meant heartbreak for Giuseppe Rossi, a player who had the goodwill of Italy on his side but in the end not enough sharpness to convince Prandelli that he was ready to jump in at the deep end after the latest in an impossibly unfair series of injuries. It was a devastating blow for Rossi but Prandelli had to be the pragmatist, even though it will have hurt him personally to be the bearer of this news to a player whose rapport with Mario Balotelli was so encouraging before, in January, he damaged his knee yet again. Cassano and Balotelli did connect well at the European Championship in 2012, though, so the chance to rekindle that partnership is available.

Balotelli remains central to Prandelli’s Italy and it felt as if the attackers he examined over the weekend during a goalless draw with the Republic of Ireland were all auditioning for the chance to accompany him. Prandelli tested three very different attackers, with all of them knowing that at least one would fall at this most painful of hurdles. Rossi showed some deft touches against Ireland but there were times when he looked anxious of challenges – it is only natural with his injury history for that kind of psychological confidence to take time to return. Ciro Immobile, Serie A’s top scorer who was making his first ever start for Italy at the age of 24, did enough to book his place in the squad. When the old maverick came on as a substitute, bringing charisma and spark, the heavy Italian presence in the crowed whooped their approval. “CAS-SA-NO!”

With Balotelli, Cassano and Lorenzo Insigne included, there is abundant individualist spirit in the squad. One of the most intriguing players who joins them is Marco Verratti, who caught the eye against Ireland with his blend of raw energy and crafted passing. Andrea Pirlo’s precocious deputy is made of enticing stuff.

For the watching Roy Hodgson, the chance to study Italy at close quarters at Craven Cottage was more useful in terms of strategy than personnel ahead of England’s game in Manaus on 14 June. Perhaps the most useful observation for Hodgson came in the form of Italy’s strategic flexibility. They move fluidly between a back four and a defensive three with wing backs suddenly pushing high up the pitch. With their full complement of creative players that could be dangerous and unsettling.

Without Balotelli, Italy lacked a focal point, a target around which their offensive game could be hooked. Offensively they were like a pack of false 9s, with nobody particularly comfortable flexing their muscles in the box. England can expect a considerably different challenge when Balotelli is back, as well as the arch-creator Pirlo, whose walking pace was conspicuously sedate as he ambled across the pitch from tunnel to dugout, and back again at the end of 90 goalless minutes. That was as much action as he needed as he is saving himself for the main event.

Italy head to Brazil shedding tears for Rossi and Riccardo Montolivo, who suffered a fractured tibia. For players such as Cassano, a different kind of emotion is overwhelming.

Italy squad

Goalkeepers Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Mattia Perin (Genoa), Salvatore Sirigu (Paris St-Germain) Defenders Ignazio Abate (Milan), Andrea Barzagli (Juventus), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Matteo Darmian (Torino), Mattia De Sciglio (Milan), Gabriel Paletta (Parma) Midfielders Alberto Aquilani (Fiorentina), Antonio Candreva (Lazio), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Thiago Motta (Paris St-Germain), Marco Parolo (Parma), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), Marco Verratti (Paris St-Germain) Forwards Mario Balotelli (Milan), Antonio Cassano (Parma), Alessio Cerci (Torino), Ciro Immobile (Torino), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli).