England fans well behaved despite defeat

English and Dutch fans celebrate together

England's hopes for the Euro 2000 tournament were dented by a disappointing 3-2 defeat by Portugal on Monday but downcast fans were well behaved after the game in Eindhoven.

Three England supporters were already in custody, but the atmosphere was generally good, despite England's defeat.

After the match thousands of fans streamed from the stadium into the centre of the Dutch city where they joined ticketless supporters who had watched the match in bars.

Earlier they had been soaking up a carnival atmosphere ahead of the game and had been praised by the Dutch authorities for their conduct during the Euro 2000 tournament so far.

That view was echoed by Kevin Miles, the co-ordinator of the English Football Supporters' Association fans' embassy.

They were playing football with the police joining in

Kevin Miles, fans embassy co-ordinator

"I've been struck by a lot of the England fans going out of their way to be almost like unofficial goodwill ambassadors," he said.

"They are making a point to go out of their way to talk to people and shake their hands."

The early afternoon scenes, some hours before the kick-off and, on a Dutch national holiday, were good-natured and peaceful.

An English tabloid newspaper pin-up girl signed autographs and posed with flag-draped fans, many clutching plastic cups of beer.

Others slept with hats over their faces or danced to music as a knot of fans were keeping a football in the air for as long as possible.

Supporters drinking specially weakened beer in the sunshine sang "God Save the Queen" as a brass band on an open-topped bus broke out into the English national anthem.

English fans get in a party mood in Eindhoven

"It's been fantastic - the weather's great, the atmosphere's great," said Mr Miles. "Yesterday was fantastic as well. There weren't quite so many people here then but they were playing football with the police joining in.

"It's been a good mix as well, with the Portuguese knocking about in the bars. There's been the odd bit of mickey taking but that's all in good fun.

Police ready

"People have been marvellously relaxed. The tragedy is that if any little incident happens today then that is what gets reported and this all gets forgotten."

He said the World Cup in France was very similar much of the time but the scenes of street fighting between hooligans in the southern port of Marseille were remembered by many.

At Eindhoven, police with handcuffs and batons chained to their waists kept a discreet watch from the edges, on alert for any outbreaks of hooliganism among the crowd.

And a row of mounted police waited in line, with children having their photographs taken in front of them.

Fans fly the flag

The match at the PSV stadium starts at 1945BST, but police are likely to keep a strong presence on the city streets late into the night.

Only a few minor skirmishes involving English supporters were reported in Amsterdam on Sunday night, with one fan arrested for assaulting a fellow England supporter.