Football-divided couple prepare for relationship stress test
English-German couple James Crabb and Yvonne Leopold will be watching the match at home in Berlin.
A German-English couple face a relationship test on Tuesday night as the two nations reignite their footballing rivalry in the last 16 of Euro 2020.
James Crabb, from Rustington, West Sussex, has been with his 39-year-old wife Yvonne Leopold, an employer branding manager originally from Leipzig, since 2005, and they will be watching the match at home in Berlin with family and friends.
"It will be mostly Englanders... we'll outnumber the Germans on their own soil,'' Mr Crabb, a 41-year-old marketing director, told the PA news agency.
"For now we have refrained from decorating our balconies with flags... I don't want to be the laughing stock when I have to remove them from view after the game.''
Despite living in the German capital since 2013, the couple's two boys, aged three and eight, have "no choice'' but to support England, according to their father.
"They don't have a choice... at least at club level they are automatic Tottenham fans and at international level they are definitely exposed to more England games than Germany games,'' Mr Crabb said.
"They also have a good opinion of England from visits and holidays... so for them England are the favourites - but I think they realise who the smart money should be on.''
Asked how previous clashes between the two sides have gone, Mr Crabb said: "Badly, because I am a bigger football fan than her, so when we lose she thinks it's funny to take the mickey.