That Tunisia and Saudi Arabia would be this "good" a game? (Good in a highly relative sense, yes; but good in the sense of wide-open and fun.)

Apparently those pat-downs we saw netted knives.

The police presence in Dortmund isn't subtle today; burned by a well-publicized hooligan rampage earlier this year, both German and Polish cops have been on the lookout for trouble from the border into the town.

Back in April, in a battle arranged by website and cellphone, approximately 200 Polish hooligans and their German counterparts met in the woods on the eastern border here, and slugged it out. The Poles won, and from what we've been told from our men in Warsaw, the Polish hooligans are promising today to fight the Germans first, and then take it to the British. Business before pleasure, you know.

"You see, they are considering this revenge for World War II," says Jaro, my contact in Poland. "Afterwards, they will be on the lookout for the British. But that's only because they apparently still have the reputation for being the top hooligans. Ahh, the goals we try to achieve."

Things have indeed changed since the days of the football "casual;" while there is still a troublesome fan element, today's hooligans increasingly find ways top fight their rivals outside of football matches. Part of this is financial: One of the ways that officials have kept the Premiership and other major, televised leagues relatively clean is by raising ticket prices out of the reach of your everyday thug, and a cellphone and internet connection is infinitely cheaper than that $100 seat at Stamford Bridge. The cops have also closed down the borders and used surveillance cameras to keep repeat offenders away from big games.

But, when the heat's off, fists still fly. Five minutes and a laptop will find you a half-dozen websites run by hooligan groups, which are all too happy to post pictures of previous battles and provide hints where the next ones will be. To avoid being busted, actual members of the crews get text messages by cell. In the case of the last meeting between the German and Polish contingents, the strategy worked.

According to a customs policeman contacted by our pals at the Guardian , Thomas Simon, the locale worked in the thugs' favour. "The battle was very violent," Simon told the Guardian. "But although the local people telephoned the police when they discovered it, they did not get there till it was over because it is very remote."

This is a perplexing phenomenon for American sports fans, who, bluntly, don't understand the deep social, tribal and cultural ties that football teams have with their supporters in Europe. [This isn't to say that sporting events don't devolve into mayhem in the States, either: Detroit and Chicago know that too well; we'd further suggest a chat with anyone who attended the old Boston Garden or Madison Square Garden in the 1970s. EDITED TO ADD: A poster reminds me of the "glory" that is the Raider Nation. Duly noted.] But factor in that Germany has some 11% unemployment and Poland's is necking 19% and you begin to get a sense of the hopelessness that infects whole swaths of Europe. Football, and how success on the field (and in fights off of it) might just be the highlight of many people's lives.

So far, things are calm, but there is a real tension in the air this afternoon. German fans and Poles are not mixing - as we've seen so many other fan groups do across the country - and shopkeepers are tense.

We'll keep you updated.

Why, the Polish fans, who have largely been confined to Dortmund.

On the way to the train station, we saw a huge pack of Tunisian fans coming in for the game. Should you see pictures of said passel and wonder to yourself: "Why on earth does Tunisia have a star on its breast over their logo?" be reminded that they won the African Nations Championship.

And Tunisia's swell. So let them have it.