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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But there is a lesson to be learned for budding footballers looking to become Asian soccer stars of the future, but more on that later.

I’m sure like us, fans all over the country and around the world, sat down in anticipation of a thrilling world-class football game that would have us at the edge of our seats.

England’s performance certainly had us on the edge of our seats, but more in anger and frustration targeted at the poor show being broadcast from our TV screens. There was no hint of a world-class performance from any of the England players, in fact they didn’t play like a team at all, while Algeria showed fluency and good technical ability.

The big players didn’t turn up for England and the rest of the team were in disarray looking for some leadership or moments of inspiration, but there were none.

Watching the players running around the pitch, what really came to mind was “headless chickens”.

So where does the problem lay?

We know the players put in impressive performances week in, week out at club level. May be the problem is the formation which fails to bring the best out of individual players strengths. Certainly, England’s management team need to evaluate the situation and make the necessary changes before its too late and England fail to qualify for the next round.

I believe England’s players also have to accept responsibility for the poor performances at world cup 2010. The body language of the players shows a lack of belief and confidence which opponents can easily sense. They seem to choke under the pressure and their decision making seems to desert them

The highly paid England players don’t seem to have the hunger and determination, on an international stage, that they have at club level. Working on core mental toughness and performance is as important, if not more, as working on physical and technical ability.

This is where budding young footballers dreaming of playing professional football and becoming an Asian soccer star can learn an invaluable lesson,  it’s probably more important to work on mental toughness as any other part of football training.

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