German Team Risks Going Cuckoo With Wacky Watch Training

Wacky training exercises rate alongside homeopathic healing and astrological wall charts in the list of practices most likely to give your fan base the feeling of impending doom before a major tournament. Spare a thought, then, for Germany supporters who must be wondering if their soccer team are about to suffer due to Jürgen Klinsmann's alternative methods.

Germany's World Cup squad will take a course in watch making to fill up a bit of spare time during their Swiss training camp, according to team manager Oliver Bierhoff. "They'll learn how to take a watch apart and put it back together again," he said after the squad arrived in Switzerland on Sunday after a break in Sardinia. "It's something a bit different."

"It must be a great feeling when you get all the bits back together and you hear it ticking."

Players' mental state at risk from bizarre training?

While the exercise may ensure that Germany's players make the kick-off on time, the bizarre training sessions may prove too much for young men who are more likely to spend their time buying expensive time pieces than taking them apart and rebuilding them.

Given Switzerland's time-keeping tradition and the country's fame for producing a certain type of clock, fans will be hoping that the weird techniques won't make the players go cuckoo before the World Cup starts on June 9.