Germany Protests World Cup Officiating

West Germany, which already has been critical of the officiating at the World Cup, believes that it has been wronged again.

The Germans, 2-1 winners over the Netherlands on Sunday night to advance to the quarterfinals, lodged an official protest today with FIFA, the world soccer organizing body. They hope to have the automatic suspension of striker Rudy Voeller overturned.

Team officials contend that videotapes of the match show Voeller’s expulsion was unjustified and said FIFA should reinstate him for Sunday’s quarterfinal against Czechoslovakia. Voeller received a red card, along with Dutch defender Frank Rijkaard, and that carries an automatic suspension for the next game.

Voeller said today that Rijkaard spat on him twice and pulled his ear during action near the Dutch net.

German officials said television tapes proved Voeller’s claim.

“We are aware that FIFA can seldom take decisions on the basis of tapes, but we are confident that Voeller’s innocence is acknowledged, possibly on the basis of the report by the FIFA commissioner. We hope Voeller is not punished,” team spokesman Wolfgang Niersbach said.

“FIFA is looking into the matter,” said Andreas Herren, spokesman for the federation. “We are now deciding on the procedure.”

Soccer rules stipulate that a referee’s decisions are final. Rarely is evidence other than reports from the referee and the match observer taken into account.

But FIFA is awaiting instructions from its General Secretariat before deciding what course to take.