NOTEBOOK: MORE SECURITY FOR WEEKEND CONTESTS.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

The World Cup approaches a worrisome weekend.

With the Dutch playing at Marseille today, the much-hyped U.S.-Iran game Sunday in Lyon and England's second game, vs. Romania, at Toulouse on Monday, authorities are gearing up for potential trouble.

Security will be tight at all three matches, particularly England's after hundreds of English hooligans made trouble a week ago in Marseille with Tunisian fans and French youths. Local authorities were taking no chances, and there was a heavy and visible police presence all around the city Friday.

U.S. players seem to be enjoying the buildup to Sunday's politically spiced game with Iran. A loss would virtually eliminate either team, and would knock out the loser if Germany ties Yugoslavia.

``We realize both governments are looking at this game and would like to get one over on each other,'' goalkeeper Kasey Keller said. ``If it brings a couple more million people in front of their televisions, that's OK.''

No go: Colombian striker Faustino Asprilla, who was cut by his coach on Thursday after criticizing him on radio, will not be let back on the squad. Asprilla apologized, but coach Hernan Dario Gomez stuck with the punishment.

Ticket update: World Cup organizers went after officials from two companies in the wake of bogus sales and the reported theft of tickets.

Distributor Prime Sports International, which claimed it had 15,000 tickets and hundreds of thousands of dollars stolen in a burglary on Wednesday, has not identified who bought the tickets, the games they were to attend and their seats - despite two requests from the World Cup organizing committee.

PSI already was under investigation after a Madrid travel agency complained it never received more than 1,000 tickets it bought from PSI.

Organizers also filed a complaint with prosecutors against ISL France, a subsidiary of FIFA's marketing company, ISL Worldwide. It was the first step toward seeking damages in a ticket fraud case involving a consultant to the subsidiary.

Ticket scandals have angered thousands of fans, prompting the image-conscious organizers to fight back with fraud probes and legal action.

More red: The aftermath of ``Red Thursday,'' when five ejections were made by referees, saw three suspensions handed out Friday. Gone for three games in the stiffest penalty of the Cup is South Africa's Alfred Phiri for elbowing Denmark's Thomas Helves in the forehead.

Suspended for two games were French star striker Zinedine Zidane and Miklos Molnar of Denmark. Zidane was suspended for ``violence against another player'' after stepping hard on Saudi captain Fouad Amin's side.

Denmark's Morton Wieghorst and Saudi Arabia's Mohammed al Khilaiwi each received the normal one-game suspension for a red card.

But FIFA pulled a red card on itself, saying it failed to reach the right balance in judging on-field fouls and even may have helped create the flood of expulsions.

Players and coaches pleaded for consistency after Thursday's calls. So FIFA sent two top officials to the referees' compound outside Paris to try to clear up confusion over what it should take to get a player kicked out of a game or given a warning for roughness.

TODAY'S BEST BETS

Croatia, which has looked the strongest of the newcomers, could move into the second round by beating another debuting team, Japan, at Nantes. The Croatians, decisive winners over Jamaica, could be without midfielder Zvonimir Boban (pulled leg muscle). Japan plans to open its attack, knowing a loss eliminates it from advancement.

Belgium, off a lackluster tie with the Netherlands, faces a Mexican team inspired by its opening rout of South Korea. Mexico moves into the second round with a win, and the Belgians must watch Luis Hernandez carefully after he scored twice in the opener. Belgium will try to spice its attack at Bordeaux with veteran Enzo Scifo.

The Dutch, minus striker Patrick Kluivert for the next two games because of suspension, will turn to veteran Dennis Bergkamp to fill the void - and the net. But Bergkamp has just recovered from a hamstring injury that sidelined him for six weeks, and the leader of the attack might be Marc Overmars, who is in top form. South Korea never has won a World Cup game, yet coach Cha Bum-kun has promised it will before leaving France.