By Andrew Gray

BERLIN, July 1 (Reuters) A stadium announcer was replaced during yesterday's World Cup quarter-final between Germany and Argentina for encouraging the home fans, FIFA said.

FIFA intervened after Andreas Wenzel used the announcement of a substitution to tell the 72,000-strong crowd in Berlin's Olympiastadion that the German team needed their support.

Wenzel, a veteran announcer for the German national team's games, promptly found himself substituted at the microphone by the local organising committee.

''This had no place in the balanced neutrality of an announcer,'' Markus Siegler, a spokesman for world soccer's governing body, said of Wenzel's comments.

''It's not acceptable.'' Germany defeated Argentina 4-2 in a penalty shootout after the match finished 1-1 at the end of extra time.

REUTERS PM HT1840