FANS of Portugal and England are gearing up for tomorrow's football World Cup quarter-final showdown in Germany, reviving memories of their Euro 2004 meeting when Portugal emerged victorious on penalties after a 2-2 draw before losing to Greece in the final.

With the large populations of Portuguese and English expatriates in Bermuda, managers of island sports bars will be keeping a sharp eye out for any potential troublemakers among both sets of fans, who will be crowding their establishments to watch the game which kicks off at noon Bermuda time in Gelsenkirchen.

Lori Talbot, joint owner of M.R. Onions, said: "We haven't had any fights so far between fans of rival nations and I don't plan on there being any here.

"Ninety per cent of our customers are regulars and they know everybody that comes here, so I don't anticipate any clashes between England and Portugal supporters."

The amount of patrons at places like M.R Onions has grown increasingly since the World Cup began June 9, spiking during England and Portugal matches.

Now with both teams playing each other, the sports bars have to try to find ways to accommodate and calm the crowds.

A manager at Robin Hood said there would be security for the match and she expected the bar to be divided between England and Portugual supporters.

On the other side of the table, however, Reed Young, speaking on behalf of Front Street bar Docksiders, said there would be no additional security.

"I think that if anybody tries to act up, they are gonna find themselves outside real quick," he said. "Everybody is here to have a good time, that's it."

Daniel Melnyk, manager at the White Horse Tavern in St. George's, said that so far they had had no altercations during the matches.

They have had security on duty throughout the World Cup and there were no plans to increase it for the Portugal-England match, he said.

The winners of tomorrow's match will face either champions Brazil or 1998 winners France in the semi-finals.