Forget the physio, call in the hairdresser.
Designer haircuts have joined stylish clothes in the teams' dressing rooms at this World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
Proof, if proof was needed, arrives in the form of hairdresser-to-the-stars Aidan Phelan today in Japan to tend David Beckham's crowning glory.
Of which it must be said, that though it has been described as a mohican, it's obviously supposed to evoke a lion's mane on the England captain's head. Three lions on his shirt and one on top.
Victoria "Posh" Beckham sent the coiffeur after she noticed his spiky mane was reduced to a flop in the game in the rain against Denmark, according to the Guardian newspaper yesterday.
"David has obviously been putting his football first ... It seems that it needs a bit of a trim," said Phelan, a hairdresser of the year in 2000.
Hair products, sprays, hairdryers and stylists are choking up the training rooms. But there is a logic to all this and it is name recognition.
To explain: The latest threads cannot be worn on the pitch, but a striking new haircut will be noticed.
Often enough it's all you will notice of a player anyway, from high up in the stands at the game, or watching from aerial view on TV.
While the height and loping gait of Rivaldo is easy to spot, it's unlikely Beckham would be noticed quite so much if it wasn't for a distinctive haircut.
Players need to be noticed, especially when there are 768 of them at the World Cup.
Many are seeking new contracts at glamor clubs throughout Europe, with vastly improved terms and a shaved head -- like Roberto Carlos of Brazil, England's Sol Campbell or even Italian referee Pierluigi Collini -- can turn the spotlight.
The players who did make it to the World Cup were handpicked from the tens of thousands who play in leagues throughout the world. They in turn were selected from hundreds of millions.
It has been estimated by a British TV production company that 40 youngsters want to grow up to be traffic wardens, 4,000 firemen, but 4 million are wannabe budding Beckhams.
With so many of the players falling within a certain range of athletic build and performance, a shaved head, hair locks, coloration and a mohican can make a player stand out.
Hasan Sas of Turkey is a case in point. Though a great player -- who scored one goal and made two against China -- would he be noted as a standout without the bald look?
For an alternative take on the matter I turned to one armchair pundit in Taipei yesterday, who said, "I mean, it does make you wonder whether haircuts have an effect on play. Can they head the ball at all if they have a haircut like Beckham, for instance? ..."
In defense of outrageous hairdoes it should be said that Beckham is the outstanding England player, mohawked Clint Mathis of the US could score goals before he had one and it didn't stop a mohicaned Umit Davala from scoring a 12th minute header to put Japan out of its own World Cup yesterday.
Perhaps there is a reverse psychology involved? The Japan team clearly believed this to be the case.
After years of conformity and short haircuts like their dads, Japan's soccer team lined up with a range of colors in their hair, none of which they were born with.
It was explained by one of them after another that an unusual haircut denoted individuality and this translated on the pitch into more assertive performances.
Though it lost against Turkey in the second stage, a nascent mohawk worn by Hidetoshi Nakata led Japan to its first World Cup win and progress for the first time into the second stage.
A bold haircut, it would seem, confers confidence on the wearer and improved performance every day. As most women will tell you.
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