Dutch Euphoria Degenerates Into Mayhem on the Streets

THE HAGUE -- Soccer fans rampaged in The Hague, looting shops and setting a car on fire after the Netherlands beat Ireland in the World Cup soccer tournament, the Dutch news agency ANP said on Tuesday. Some 1,500 people massed in the city center immediately after the Dutch side's second-round 2-0 victory, but celebrations grew violent when a group of around 150 supporters clashed with riot police. Three policemen were injured and 20 people were arrested, ANP said. Police and the mayor are to discuss special measures ahead of Saturday's match against Brazil in Dallas. nNigeria's Super Eagles got a visit from one of their "biggest" fans. The Houston Rockets center, 7-foot Nigerian-born Hakeem Olajuwon, stopped by the team's hotel in Foxboro, Massachusetts, with what he said were just "words of encouragement" on the eve of their second-round World Cup match with Italy. Olajuwon, who was named the National Basketball Association's Most Valuable Player and led the Rockets to the NBA title last month, said he would watch his former countrymen from the stands. nOutspoken German midfielder Stefan Effenberg, kicked out of the World Cup last week for making an obscene gesture at the crowd during a match, has accused the German camp of spying on him during the finals. In an interview with a German magazine Effenberg, who has often been in trouble during his career for outrageous behavior, alleged that coach Berti Vogts and his assistant Rainer Bonhof had been watching him closely off the field. Effenberg was quoted as saying that he had caught Bonhof listening at his hotel door in the middle of the night before the game against Spain. "It was like my every move was being watched," Effenberg said. (AP, Reuters)