Berlin: Forget the flowing football, the rush of goals and the fervour of the fans ? for some, the players’ haircuts are the most closely watched trend of the World Cup.

Italy’s brush with the scissors and a bid for fame from a plucky African outsider have kept tongues wagging in hairdressers’ salons all over the globe.

After years when flowing locks have been the norm, Italy have adopted the old adage that less is more.

Golden boy Francesco Totti, who had long cultivated a luxuriant bobbed style, appeared for his country’s open- ing match against Ghana newly-cropped.

Totti, not known for being shy about his talent or his looks, could not resist a wink to the cameras on hand to record his tonsorial step forward.

After two weeks of matches, the tournament has arguably thrown up only one truly memorable haircut ? and it came from World Cup first-timers Angola and their extraordinarily-coiffeured defender Loco.

Possibly in homage to the bizarre ‘half moon’ cut sported by Ronaldo as Brazil cruised to the title in 2002, Loco has shaved his entire head except for a dreadlocked patch at the front.

The effect is of a hairy spider perching on his forehead.

Running him a close second is the variation on the Mohican, which Germany’s rising midfield star Bastian Schweinsteiger unleashed on the tournament.

The hair on the sides is shaved short but the strip down the middle of his head is bushy, earning him the nickname “brushhead” in the German tabloids. Not everyone liked it.

“I hope it’ll grow back, or there’ll be trouble,” said Uli Hoeness, the general manager of his club Bayern Munich.

One trend from this World Cup: the ponytail is a dying phenomenon. Sweden’s Christian Wilhelmsson has stubbornly persisted with the style, even adding a few blonde streaks for maximum effect, although pairing it with a spiky cut was perhaps taking it too far.

World Cup history is littered with memorable haircut moments. In 1998, Romania showed true team spirit when their entire line-up were bleached blond, while 2002 was the year of the home made Mohican, as sported by Turkey’s Umit Davala. American striker Clint Mathis and German defender Christian Ziege followed suit.

(AFP)