Italy coach, Marcello Lippi, is set to meet with Antonio Cassano next week to discuss his World Cup plans for the striker according to Calciomercato.

Il Talentino di Bari has been showing glimpses of magic during pre-season with Sampdoria and reports claim that Lippi is considering using the striker as his first choice during Italy’s World Cup qualifying campaign.  

La Nazionale are keen to recover from their Euro 2008 shambles and Lippi has been tasked with steering the side towards qualification for South Africa 2010, as well as glory in football's biggest tournament.  

Cassano is ready to lead the Azzurri to World Cup success and he is being touted to replace Luca Toni as the first choice hit-man after the Bayern Munich man failed to impress in Austria and Switzerland.  

The Samp hero scored 10 goals in 22 games for the club following his return to Serie A last season and he is looking to silence his critics and prove himself with the National side.  

It seems as if Lippi is willing to give the player a chance to shine and he is likely to experiment with Cassano before the World Cup qualification campaign gets underway in September.