NOTES : West Germany Trying to Get Voeller Suspension Overturned

West Germany, which already has been critical of the officiating at the World Cup, believes 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 Monday with FIFA, the world soccer organizing body. They hope to have the automatic suspension of striker Rudy Voeller overturned.

They also protested a yellow card given to team captain Lothar Matthaeus.

Team officials contend 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 Monday that Rijkaard spat on him twice and pulled his ear during action near the Dutch net.

“I did nothing to deserve the expulsion, which I consider unfair,” Voeller said.

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

Police from the Netherlands and West Germany dispersed hundreds of brick-hurling soccer fans early Monday in a cross-border riot at the Dutch city of Kerkrade.

At least four people were injured during the riot, which lasted more than three hours, said a Kerkrade police spokesman, Hein Quaedvlieg.

Hundreds of Dutch and West German soccer fans threw bricks and beer bottles at each other in a street that marks the frontier between the two countries, he said.

Police from both sides of the border made baton charges to disperse the crowd, he said. Dutch TV put the number of rioters at 1,000.