Mind Goes Over Matter at the World Cup

Sports psychology has come a long way from the advice once offered by a coach when told his struggling star striker had been knocked unconscious and had forgotten his name. "Tell him he's Pele," said the coach. "And get him back on the pitch."

Some World Cup hopefuls are a little more sophisticated. Germany is using a sports psychologist for the first time. After a disastrous Euro 2004 campaign, when Germany failed to win a match under Rudi Völler, trainer Jürgen Klinsmann recruited Dr. Hans-Dieter Hermann, who has also worked with the German ski team.

"We are delighted that he is there for the mental side of things," Klinsmann said. "He has a lot of experience, having worked with top sportsmen. He can help them deal with stress and maximize their performance."

Spain, who have impressed many with their early form which has yielded two wins in two games, have turned to one of America's top sports psychologists to transform them from underachievers to world beaters. They haven't gotten beyond the last eight since 1954.

World Cup debutants Angola called in Laurindo Vieira. "The psychologist talked to them about brains and nerves and tried to make them more confident in themselves and in the team," said a team spokesman. "I'm not really sure what they did in these lectures, but the players came out laughing about who is using the right side of their brain and who is not."

But the psychological training was not enough. Angola failed to make it to the next round.