100,000 English? That's a whole lot of beer and sausages!

It's good to hear via Reuters that the German authorities are taking comfort from the fact that they have managed to seed the "large European footballing nations" so as to keep them apart in the opening group phase. So Holland, England and Germany don't get to fight until the second round.

There is a bit of a heads up for Germany v Poland on 14th June given the brawl a couple of weeks ago, but Michael Endler, head of the German police unit monitoring hooliganism is admirably phlegmatic about the meet, "We are regarding it in a relaxed way. There's no reason for particular concern."

He's showing quite a bit of bottle all round really given that he's expecting an army of around 100,000 Englishmen - that's quite an outing!

Critics have said Germany is inviting trouble by encouraging fans without tickets to visit the country and watch matches on giant screens in major cities.

"It's like medicine. The primary effect is to give many people the opportunity to be as close as possible to the action. But it can have negative side effects," Endler said.

"However, I think the positive will overpower the negative."

I hope so too Herr Endler!

Category: Football_