Portugal set for invasion by England

ENGLAND’S Nations League semi-final with Holland tomorrow will feel like a home match, with about 20,000 fans expected in Portugal. Sources have told Sportsmail the surge in the popularity of the national team under Gareth Southgate has created a scramble for tickets, with England fans buying many of those outside their original 10,000 allocation. It means that the stadium in Guimaraes, which has a reduced capacity of 26,000, will be a sea of white and red. Thousands more fans who have travelled without tickets have been told to stay in nearby Porto. Last night there were signs of trouble when at least 100 fans gathered in the main square of Porto chanting antiGerman and anti-IRA songs. A complex policing operation has been launched in a bid to deal robustly with troublemakers. Last week, the FA released a video featuring England manager Southgate entitled ‘Don’t Be That Idiot’ — a warning to a new generation of thugs who it is feared could embarrass the country. While the majority of travelling supporters are well behaved, the FA issued 127 suspensions between September 2014 and March 2019, with 237 warnings

following issues in Dortmund in 2017 and Amsterdam and Seville last year. There have been concerns that the tournament will attract those intent on causing trouble and a team of officers from England have travelled and are liaising with their Portuguese counterparts. Should England win tomorrow, they will face Portugal or Switzerland in the final in Porto on Sunday night. Should they lose, they will return to Guimaraes for a third-place play-off on Sunday afternoon. Southgate has issued a rallying cry to his players, urging them to make history in Portugal. The squad arrive in the country today and Southgate has demanded they seize the opportunity of winning England’s first competitive trophy since the World Cup in 1966. If they do, the players will scoop their share of a £10.5million prize jackpot. The FA have already secured £4m for reaching the finals, with a further £6.5m on offer for going all the way. Southgate’s men will be entitled to a significant portion if they do win, although the exact amount is still to be ratified. The FA were awarded £16.5m in prize-money for their fourth-placed finish at Russia 2018, when the players split a fund of just under £4m. Additional reporting: SAMI MOKBEL and MATT LAWTON