More than 20,000 English fans have come and gone from one of the World Cup's smallest host cities, causing few problems and leaving behind a big financial gain for the Indian Ocean port city, according to AP. Local organizers estimate that 15,000 of 36,000 fans at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Wednesday for England's 1-0 victory over Slovenia supported the winning team. The Herald newspaper headlined its front page Thursday: «Bay becomes Little Britain.» England advanced with the victory as the second-place team in Group C. «There were no arrests, and except for the fact that there was much revelry, there were few problems to report,» Naidoo said Thursday. British security officials traveling with the England team also reported no incidents. Police, however, took no chances. For the first time in Port Elizabeth during the World Cup, police had several hundred riot squad officer on duty at the stadium well before the match. Most hotels in a city of 1 million inhabitants were booked out for two days leading up to the match, and bars restaurants were crowded with English fans well into the early morning _ many of them carrying English flags emblazoned with their local counties and towns. At the stadium, England flags circled two tiers of grandstand and the English fans' singing of «God Save the Queen» made it sound more like London's Wembley Stadium. The Herald reported that a BBC Radio journalist lost his laptop, camera and wallet containing 1,200 rand ($160) when thieves broke into his guest house. The paper said that a municipal cleaner found the wallet containing a driver's license and passport in a nearby garbage bin and alerted police, who returned it to the journalist. «We were warned beforehand about the crime levels in South Africa and knew the risks,» The Herald quoted the journalist as saying. «London has its own pickpockets.» Port Elizabeth's next match _ its sixth of the World Cup _ is Saturday when South Korea plays Uruguay in the round of 16. A quarterfinal is scheduled at the stadium on July 2, followed by the third-place playoff eight days later.
