Any drunken crowd from any country seems to consist of the most ugly and nasty selection of persons from that country. I know how often I change the side of the street (say at a German touristic hotspot) and hope nobody thinks I may come from the same country as those brutes.

The American world cup tourists are nicer for two main reasons: (1) They are fewer and (2) they come from farther away. Prejudices in football seem to be stronger when the other team comes from a nearby country. You should hear what the Swiss, Austrians, Dutch etc. fans sing in our streets. And what the Polish sing we don't understand, which is perhaps better.

Some world cups ago we had a big football hit titled "Without Holland we go to the world cup" which is revived each time Holland is eliminated before Germany. In the border regions of course some German crowds cross the border to sing it in the faces of the Dutch. On the other hand, they'll sing "Oh, how silent are the Moffen now" when we are eliminated and of course it is more fun to sing it at our side of the border.

From the point of view of the police the English fans are still far better than the (low) expectations. They may sing whatever they want as long as they keep singing, and as long as they do not use the beermugs to stick them in others faces the police will still be happy. The memories of a group of German fans beating a French policeman half dead (he's still a cripple today) are still fresh. So, every amount of verbal violence is better than that.

Wolfgang