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LONDON -- For the first time since hooligans rioted and forced their match to be abandoned 18 years ago, the England and Ireland soccer teams will take to the field on Wednesday, in a contest seen as a historic chance for redemption. Tensions are high in London ahead of the exhibition match, which is being staged as part of the English Football Associations 150th anniversary celebrations -- but has been causing deep anxiety at Wembley Stadium where the game will be played. A stream of warnings have been delivered by Englands coach, Roy Hodgson, imploring fans not to shout anti-Irish chants that could turn the clock back to an era of political and sectarian strife between the nations. The conflict endured for generations, with Britain hit by terrorist attacks during a long confrontation with the Irish Republican Army. But with a peace accord now in place and regular violence mostly a memory, match organizers say the time is right for the rivals to take each other on. "Its in the distance in the past now," Hodgson said. "There have been problems between the two countries. We cant rewrite history, but we are playing the match in completely different circumstances to the past." The new match also offers a chance for England to demonstrate it has made progress in tamping down on violence among some its supporters, who earned an international reputation in the 1980s and 90s for hooliganism. The team came close to being thrown out of the 2000 European Championship after rioting in Belgium. The 1995 match lasted just 28 minutes before the referee ordered the players off the field. England fans rampaged inside Dublins Lansdowne Road stadium, tearing up wooden benches and throwing them at opposing fans, before battling it out with Irish police. More than 20 people required hospital treatment and over 40 were arrested. Alan Kelly, who will be on Irelands bench on Wednesday as goalkeeping coach, was in goal 18 years ago and remembered the night as "horrendous." "The mayhem that was caused and the potentially life-threatening injuries some of the supporters could have sustained," Kelly recalled. "Some of the debris that came down from the stands was truly horrific." "We cant deny there have been some dark times," Hodgson said. The 1995 "friendly" game came three years before the landmark Good Friday Agreement that transformed relations between the U.K. and Ireland after a conflict stretching backing decades. Although the paramilitary bloodshed has receded considerably since the 1998 accord, there was a reminder of the ongoing civil strife in Northern Ireland the hours before the teams trained on Tuesday in London. Two pipe bombs were thrown at a police vehicle as two officers, who escaped injury as they responded to a bogus emergency call. No group claimed responsibility for the ambush in an Irish Catholic part of north Belfast, but Irish Republican Army splinter groups regularly target police as part of their efforts to undermine Northern Irelands peace process. The spectre of the IRA has been ever-present at England games for years, with fans chanting "No surrender to the IRA" at stadiums both home and abroad. Its these incendiary chants that the Football Association is pleading with fans to refrain from on Wednesday. "Wembley is considered the world over as the home of football and we ask those attending to not take part in any chanting -- particularly of a religious or political perspective -- which could cause offence to our visitors or fellow fans," Hodgson wrote in an email sent to ticketholders. The last England-Ireland match to be completed ended in a 1-1 draw in March 1991 in London. The countries have not attempted to play a friendly game since and havent had to play each other in qualifiers for the World Cup and European Championship because they havent been matched in a random draw. Police and stewards will be out in force to guard against any repeat of crowd violence. There was last violence at Wembley last month when Millwall fans fought with workers and each other during a loss to Wigan. In 2011, a Wales supporter was killed in an attack outside Wembley by an England fan, who was later jailed for three years. But for the most part, England fans have been travelling the world without major incidents for more than a decade. "Long before I came into the job I knew that the behaviour and reputation of England fans has developed into something we all should be very proud of," said Hodgson, who has been England coach for a year. "World Cups in South Africa and Germany in the last decade are shining examples of this. 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Judging by the first 32 minutes of each of their first round games Wednesday in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, it seemed No. 24 Michigan State and No. 20 Baylor were destined for a second-day matchup in the consolation bracket and not the semifinals.Baylor was mired in a tie with 8:38 remaining against VCU, while Michigan State led St. Johns only 55-53 with 8:22 left.But the Bears and Spartans showed why they are ranked and two of the tournament-title contenders from that point on, taking over to win going away and setting up what was the expected semifinal matchup going into the tournament.There wont be much time for either team to recover at Thursdays semifinal begins at noon ET.I thought in the first half when we were turning the ball over and they were doing a great job taking us out on offense, especially the last 10 minutes of the game of the first half, we were able to come in the locker room and players showed great leadership and poise to be able to regroup and only have five turnovers in the second half, Baylor coach Scott Drew said. I thought that was outstanding, especially with the pressure they put on.As was the case for the Bears in their first four games, they were led Wednesday by the three-headed monster of junior forward Johnathan Motley (19 points), junior guard Manu Lecomte (16 points) and junior guard Al Freeman (15 points).Lecomte and Motlley average more than 16 points, while Freeman averages better than 14.ddddddddddddMichigan State (3-2) won its last three games after losing to No. 8 Arizona and top-ranked Kentucky, in the process throwing a talented freshman class into the fire.Freshman Miles Bridges is the teams leading scorer at more than 17 points per game and rebounder at better than 10 and freshman big man Nick Ward had nine points and 11 rebounds against St. Johns, while point guard Cassius Winston and guard Josh Langford have also seen significant minutes.Senior guard Eron Harris started to come on over the past two games, scoring 31 points against Florida Gulf Coast on Sunday and adding 14 points and seven rebounds against St. Johns.While the Bears tipped off at 2:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, the preparation time is even worse for the Spartans, whose game didnt end until after 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday.Its disappointing, if you want the truth, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said of the short turnaround during his postgame show on the Spartan Sports Network. Its almost insane. Its not right. I dont want to rip anybody here, but Im concerned. Especially when the other team had four or five more hours to prepare for us. But it is what it is and we will go play the game. ' ' '