Police to increase security for England vs. Germany World Cup match

Extra security for England-Germany World Cup game

JOHANNESBURG — Extra security will be enforced at the England-Germany second-round game at the World Cup on Sunday, with South Africa police describing it as a “high priority” match.

England and Germany will play at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, which has a relatively small capacity of 40,911.

“Those are high-priority teams for us,” South Africa Police Service spokeswoman Brigadier Sally de Beer told The Associated Press on Thursday. “As with the (England)-U.S.A. game where we beefed up security … we will deploy additional forces and resources.”

Police had no information about any specific threats to the match, de Beer said, nor did they have particular concerns about a game featuring two of European soccer’s traditional rivals,

Earlier this month, South African police deported at least one hooligan from Britain and more than 20 from Argentina. Police in England arrested five convicted hooligans in Birmingham accused of violating domestic “banning orders” by not handing in their passports ahead of the World Cup.

The winner of the England-Germany match will play the winner of Argentina-Mexico in the quarterfinals.

Local organizers claim at the halfway point of the tournament the World Cup had been incident free despite concern over security checks and unsold tickets.

“We are happy with the way the tournament has gone thus far. We have delivered 50 percent of the games, and everything has gone smoothly,” organizing committee spokesman Rich Mkhondo said. “Now we are coming to the crucial stages when teams have to go home. For us this is a wonderful success story.”

Mkhondo said close attention would be paid to security at all eight of the second-round matches.

“The World Cup tends to bring such games ahead of time — this is just one we’re looking forward to,” he said of England-Germany.

There were concerns in the early stages of the tournament over the laid-back security at stadiums and venues.

Four days into the tournament, more than 3,600 security guards from Stallion Security, a private firm contracted to work at four major World Cup venues, were fired for striking over low pay.

The organizers turned to the South African Police Service, which responded by dispatching officers to the Soccer City, Ellis Park, Green Point and Moses Mabhida stadiums.

Police spokesman Vishnu Naidoo said the use of officers in place of the security guards who went on strike in a pay dispute had tightened up security procedures at the venues.

“It’s now going well. We have deployed officers with supervisory capacity. We’ve been receiving positive feedback as well,” Naidoo said. “We are no longer getting complaints.”