DORTMUND, Germany — Five days of opening World Cup calm ended with a volley of bottles and chairs as dozens of German hooligans clashed with police Wednesday before their country's 1-0 win over Poland.
For much of the day, German police worked with their counterparts from neighboring Poland to identify and arrest traveling troublemakers without incident. It was homegrown hooligans who lashed out about two hours before the late-evening kickoff after police confronted them in a central square.
By the time rain began falling after midnight, police said they had arrested 300 German and Polish hooligans — at least 120 Germans in the central square.
The trouble began when police spotted about 40 men, later described as hardcore hooligans, and blocked the route between the outdoor area where they sat drinking and a nearby big screen where games are shown for free.
As police began apprehending the men they screamed, "We are Germans, too. We want to go to the big screen," according to witness Cristel Lorenz.
No officers were injured, police said. At least one hooligan was seen receiving treatment for facial cuts.
Johnson compares Cup with war
HAMBURG, Germany — Eddie Johnson likened playing in the World Cup to going to war, a metaphor that came up after the U.S. forward was asked about the team's visit to a U.S. military base.
The American team will spend two nights at Ramstein Air Base outside Kaiserslautern, where the United States plays Italy on Saturday.
"It's like us in the World Cup. We're here for a war," the 22-year-old forward said. "We came here to battle, we came here to represent our country."
Later in the news conference, Johnson was asked whether he was comparing a sporting event to a war.
"Yeah," he responded. "Whenever you put your jersey on and you look at your crest and the national anthem's going on, and you're playing against a different country, it's like you do or die, it's survival of the [fittest] over 90-minutes plus."
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