Asian soccer star, London – The big game between England and Germany in the last 16 of world cup 2010 knockout stages is being built-up as England’s revenge match against the Germans. The media is going crazy building up the hype right down to predicting who will take part in the penalty shootout.

England is going to expect a lot from its players tomorrow and that means a huge amount of pressure for the players. If I were Fabio Capello I’d make sure there was a media blackout imposed around the players and they were working on their mental toughness more than anything else so close to the match.

But with all the technology and social media like facebook and twitter available on most smart-phones, protecting the players from the media hype is an almost impossible task.

Like I said, work on the psychology of the players. While practising penalties may provide confidence to the chosen penalty-takers, I believe it is a false confidence without the pressure and atmosphere of the real thing.

Mental toughness is core to performance in any sport, it’s what differentiates the winners from the losers.

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