Security has been stepped up in this southwestern city to prevent street violence of the kind that erupted in Marseille last weekend before the England-Tunisia match. Several hundred English hooligans were blamed for triggered the disturbances.

With scouts from each side sizing up the opposition, England opened its Group G campaign June 15 by defeating Tunisia 2-0 and Romania clipped Colombia 1-0.

What they saw resulted in words of mutual respect from England manager Glenn Hoddle and his Romanian counterpart Anghel Iordanescu regarding the quality on display.

``Romania are a smashing side and they have an impressive pedigree,'' said Hoddle, pointing out that the Romanians made the World Cup quarter-finals four years ago in the United States and won nine of their 10 World Cup qualifying matchesfor France. While confident of England's ability, Hoddle regarded Romania as the favourite for tomorrow's match.