By WENDELL STEAVENSON

veryone half expected England's supporters to "go off" (to use the soccer hooligan's argot for creating mayhem) in Marseilles, and when they did all attention was focused on their next appearance in Toulouse. With 2,000 police deployed there to deal with them, the northern flank of France was left unguarded. Over it poured thousands of German fans, some of whom brought their own style of football violence--not the beering and jeering of les hooligans, but a calculated thuggery coordinated via the Internet and mobile phones. Their main victim: French policeman Daniel Nivel, 43, beaten into a brain-damaged coma.

Lens is an old mining town in the north of France with little to recommend it but a grand football tradition and a stadium that can seat more than the town's population. German fans descended on Lens for their country's match against Yugoslavia, drinking through the day and fighting sporadically. But it was not until after the match that random violence turned into well-organized riot. It was then that thugs trapped Nivel and beat him with a metal signpost.

In Germany, outraged citizens poured donations into a fund for Nivel's family and Franz Beckenbauer, the "Kaiser" of German football, joined other notables in agreeing to a memorial match for the policeman before the end of the World Cup tournament. A French court quickly sentenced three Germans to a year in prison for violent conduct. Two more were charged with the attempted murder of Nivel.

Prevention is better. Germany's Interior Minister announced new controls to stop known trouble-makers from crossing into France. In Lens, bars were shut down before England's crucial Friday match with Colombia. French authorities hope a celebratory atmosphere can be maintained, but for now the bar is kept dry when trouble looms.