Foxboro Stadium: Secure (EzraShaw/Allsport)

Mark Briggs, director of security at Foxboro Stadium located about 40 kilometres south of Boston, said the security would be more overt than covert.

'There will be more searches and an increased presence of our personnel - the stadium is safe, but we're making sure it's even more safe,' he said as the U.S prepared for its crucial CONCACAF World Cup qualifier against Jamaica.

Nearly 200 Massachusetts state police will be on duty at Foxboro and more than 400 ushers and stewards will be assigned throughout the 60,000-seat stadium which is home to a NFL and major league soccer team.

Brigs, 40, a native of Derby in England, and former head of security for Wembley Stadium and Chelsea's Stamford Bridge said there were differences between the crowds in the U.S and Europe.

'There's more crowd violence in Europe.

'You just can't compare violence at a National Football League game to that of one of the 'Old Firm', England-Scotland matches or England-Netherlands.'

Briggs, who did consulting work during the 1994 World Cup and 1996 Summer Olympics, said crowd violence during Euro '96 games far overshadows pockets of intoxicated fans at NFL games or occasional fisticuffs.

'You don't have to separate fans in the stadiums here and you don't have the same level of organised crime and violence that you (do) in Europe,' said Briggs.

'We've also learned how to live with the threat of terrorism over the years in Europe, but that too has changed since September 11. Now we're focused more and more on anti-terrorist activities.'

Briggs said despite the sports-saturated U.S. far from being a soccer hotbed, he anticipated 90 percent of the crowd would be U.S. supporters.

The U.S. had crowd problems at their last home match, a 3-2 loss to Honduras in Washington D.C. on September 1, when the majority of the nearly 55,000 crowd supported the visitors.

The match turned ugly when both groups of fans threw bottles at players and flares were tossed on the field.

The U.S. team is no stranger to increased security.

During a qualifier in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, in March nearly 40 armed undercover U.S. Army Special Forces personnel worked with Honduran authorities at the stadium to ensure safety for the U.S. team and travelling media.

There were no incidents and the Honduran crowd treated the U.S. team - 2-1 winners on the night - with respect.

'It's been a good year for us as far as travelling,' said U.S. Soccer Federation spokesman Jim Moorhouse.

'The biggest thing right now is this home game and we're fortunate that there have been two NFL games at Foxboro.

'We're going to emulate some of their (NFL) tactics by opening the gates earlier and making it easier for security to do their jobs and fans to get into the stadium before the game.'

In the wake of the attacks, Moorhouse said there had been an outpouring of support from federations around the world in the form of phone calls, faxes and e-mails.

The U.S. have lost their last three qualifiers and are battling to secure one of the top two places in the six-nation group to qualify for their fourth consecutive World Cup finals/

They are currently joint third with Mexico on 13 points, one behind Honduras and six adrift of Costa Rica who have already reached the finals. The Mexicans have a better goal difference.