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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Beth Lindop

England fans fume as thousands suffer in "absolute chaos" ahead of World Cup farewell match

Thousands of England fans were caught up in chaotic queues outside Stadium MK ahead of the Lionesses ' World Cup send-off clash with Portugal.

The two sides are set to go head-to-head in Milton Keynes this afternoon, with both sets of players eager to get some game time under their belts ahead of this summer's tournament in Australia and New Zealand. However, a number of fans are facing a race against time to get inside the stadium ahead of the 3.15pm kick-off time.

Queues are reportedly stretching around the stadium and several fans have taken to social media to criticise the poor organisation.

Posting on Twitter, Tim Stillman said: "Absolute chaos outside. No stewards, massive queues which have all melded together. Nobody knows where to go but we all know we aren’t getting in for kickoff. Think I might sack this off and go home. Horrendous organisation."

Another fan, @GRODSTER, said: "It's an absolute shambles trying to get into the MK Dons stadium for England v Portugal. There are thousands of people stuck outside with no idea where to go or what queue they should be in."

@MGPAnderson shared a photo of the chaos outside the stadium with the caption: "This mass of people are the queues for gates three, four and five. A total lack of any sort of organisation."

@StevieBeasy said: "Chaos at the gates of @Stadium_MK. Queues overlapping, people arguing about pushing in, security are clueless. Fun times to be out with 2 toddlers."

With kick-off rapidly approaching, there are thousands of empty seats inside the stadium.

Saturday's clash will be England's first outing since their 2-0 defeat to Australia in April - the only time the Lionesses have been beaten during Sarina Wiegman's tenure.

England last faced Portugal in October 2019, when Beth Mead struck the only goal of the game to clinch victory for the visitors in Setubal. The two sides also met in the EURO 2017 group stage in the Netherlands, winning 2-1 thanks to goals from Toni Duggan and Nikita Parris.

While Francisco Neto's side put in a disappointing display at last year's EUROs, Portugal will be keen to lay down a marker ahead of their first World Cup this summer.

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