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Werner Fricker will attend his sixth World Cup next month. But this one will be different. This is the one that Fricker brought to the United States. The Horsham developer and former president of the United States Soccer Federation allows that the World Cup probably wouldn't be here without his efforts during the 1980s. Fricker, 58, isn't part of the top soccer hierarchy anymore, though. He was deposed as USSF president in 1990. He had built a reputation as maybe the smartest man at the table, but also the most stubborn.

April Heinrichs captained the U.S. women's soccer team to the Women's World Cup title in 1991. Now she'll be expected to coach the Americans to another. Yesterday, Heinrichs officially was named head coach, becoming the first woman to lead the women's team. She replaces Tony DiCicco, who guided the Americans to the World Cup title last summer before resigning in November. "I am thrilled to be the U.S. women's national team coach," Heinrichs said. "It's with great pride and pleasure that I take on this challenge.

The biggest splash in American soccer in 1996 was the debut of Major League Soccer. But the top end isn't the only part of U.S. soccer's professional structure that's getting a face-lift. The merger of the American Professional Soccer League (APSL) and the awkwardly named but well-run United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues (USISL) will go into effect this year, and the sport will be pulling in the same direction at all pro levels. One thing that has plagued American soccer for decades is competition among leagues.

His team had a 1-goal lead with one minute to play in the game. His team also controlled the ball near the opponents' goal. Werner Fricker was a soccer player who never let down his guard. Fricker, a Horsham developer who is the president of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), has learned that even long shots can sometimes trickle into the goal. As Fricker headed to Zurich, Switzerland, last week, it was safe to assume that the Federation Internationale de Footbal Association (FIFA)

They are buried in pauper's plots in the professional-sports cemetery. They were the ill-fated franchises of the late, unlamented North American Soccer League. Remember the New York Cosmos and their stars - the electrifying Giorgio Chinaglia and the inimitable Pele? Remember the two Philadelphia teams in the league, the Atoms and the Fury? Remember all those fledgling franchises with those interesting nicknames - the Tulsa Roughnecks and the Jacksonville Tea Men and the Tampa Bay Rowdies and the Manic of Montreal?

His soccer career began in 1946, when Werner Fricker was 10. Two years earlier, Fricker's father, a farmer from the German-speaking Yugoslavian town of Karlsdorf, had been drafted into the German Army, and before he left for war, he told his family to flee to Allied-occupied Europe. So the family moved to Bischofshofen, Austria, and young Werner Fricker became a halfback on a soccer team. He would play the game competitively for the next 23 years. "I do love the sport," he said.

His soccer career began in 1946, when Werner Fricker was 10. Two years earlier, Fricker's father, a farmer from the German-speaking Yugoslavian town of Karlsdorf, had been drafted into the German Army, and before he left for war, he told his family to flee to Allied-occupied Europe. So the family moved to Bischofshofen, Austria, and young Werner Fricker became a halfback on a soccer team. He would play the game competitively for the next 23 years. "I do love the sport," he said.

Colombian soccer coach Luis Fernando Montoya is paralyzed from the neck down after being shot during an attempted robbery, doctors said yesterday, and police reported the arrest of two men and two women suspected in the shooting. Luis Fernando Montoya, who led Once Caldas to this year's South American club championship, "has not shown any movement of the body and is using a ventilator for breathing," doctors said in a statement. Montoya, 47, was shot twice Wednesday while protecting his wife from robbers outside their home in Caldas, 170 miles northwest of Bogota.

A familiar problem has cropped up for soccer in Philadelphia: no grass to play on. A professional soccer league is hoping to be up and running in this country by 1995, but the proposed circuit won't come to Philadelphia unless the area comes up with a grass field. This is the same problem the city ran into when bidding unsuccessfully to be a site for next summer's World Cup. The U.S. Soccer Federation gave approval last week for a group headed by the USSF president to start an outdoor league in April 1995 that would have 12 teams, all owned by the league.

A 1-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago earned the United States its first berth in the World Cup finals in 40 years. But for U.S. soccer, the win had an even greater significance. The loss of potential revenue to the United States Soccer Federation had the U.S. team not qualified would have been at least $6 million to $8 million, said Richard Groff, business manager of the U.S. team and president of the Eastern Pennsylvania Soccer Association. The trickle-down from that loss could have been devastating for American soccer.

If you've followed my writing, you know I am a consistent proponent of both the sport of soccer and the advancement of opportunities for women in sports. Combing the two, it would figure that I would be gung-ho about the United States Soccer Federation's announcement Wednesday that a women's professional soccer league will be launched this spring. Perhaps I would be, if the two previous professional women's soccer leagues launched in the United States since the groundbreaking success of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup would not have each folded after three seasons.

THE POWERS that be within the U.S. Soccer Federation have not decided to pull the plug just yet on Women's Professional Soccer. That could mean a positive step in what has been an otherwise stressful week. The WPS, the premier outfit for women's soccer in America, is in danger of losing its Division I professional status or even folding after its annual report showed the league has dwindled from six teams to five. That number is well below the minimum of eight to be granted what the USSF calls Division I status.

FOR THE SECOND time since the turn of the century, women's professional soccer in America is in danger of becoming obsolete. Women's Professional Soccer, currently the top league in the United States, has fallen to just five bona fide franchises. As a result, the U.S. Soccer Federation, America's governing body for club soccer, was in deliberation with WPS commissioner Jennifer O'Sullivan from its offices in Chicago yesterday, deciding whether it's best to just pull the plug. Before the start of the 2011 season, the USSF granted WPS a 1-year waiver to increase its club count to eight teams, the minimum for a USSF-sanctioned entity to be granted what's referred to as Division I (top-tier)

The U.S. Soccer Federation reached an agreement with its players' union last night that will allow the regulars to play in next month's World Cup qualifier. The agreement, reached after two days of talks in Chicago that involved a federal mediator, included a no-strike pledge by the players in return for pay at the rate of the latest USSF offer and not the rate of the expired contract. The players have been without a contract for more than two years, and the USSF had said it would use replacement players for the Feb. 9 game at Trinidad and Tobago.

Negotiators from the U.S. Soccer Federation and its union are to meet with a federal mediator in Chicago today and try to resolve a dispute that may keep the regular players off the field for a World Cup qualifier next month. The sides, arguing over money and other issues, will meet in a hotel at O'Hare Airport. If an agreement is not reached by Feb. 1, the USSF says it will use replacement players for the Feb. 9 game at Trinidad and Tobago, the first of 10 in the final round of qualifying.

Colombian soccer coach Luis Fernando Montoya is paralyzed from the neck down after being shot during an attempted robbery, doctors said yesterday, and police reported the arrest of two men and two women suspected in the shooting. Luis Fernando Montoya, who led Once Caldas to this year's South American club championship, "has not shown any movement of the body and is using a ventilator for breathing," doctors said in a statement. Montoya, 47, was shot twice Wednesday while protecting his wife from robbers outside their home in Caldas, 170 miles northwest of Bogota.

April Heinrichs captained the U.S. women's soccer team to the Women's World Cup title in 1991. Now she'll be expected to coach the Americans to another. Yesterday, Heinrichs officially was named head coach, becoming the first woman to lead the women's team. She replaces Tony DiCicco, who guided the Americans to the World Cup title last summer before resigning in November. "I am thrilled to be the U.S. women's national team coach," Heinrichs said. "It's with great pride and pleasure that I take on this challenge.

Labor strife has followed success for the U.S. women's soccer team. Angered by stalled contract negotiations with the U.S. Soccer Federation, players on the Women's World Cup champions said yesterday they will boycott the Australia Cup next month. The USSF responded by saying it will send young players to the four-nation tournament. "You can imagine the frustration and disappointment we feel as a team," U.S. co-captain Julie Foudy said. "It was important to all of us to meet right after the World Cup to reach a new agreement in order that we could focus exclusively on our Olympic training beginning in January 2000.

The window of opportunity doesn't stay open long, and when you're a woman soccer player in the midst of an unprecedented run of publicity and popularity, you take advantage of every possible minute. So tomorrow afternoon, when 12 members of the World Cup champion U.S. women's national team visits the First Union Spectrum as part of a 12-city tour, the players will view it as another chance to stay connected with the enthusiastic fans who made last summer so special. Out of sight often means out of mind, and with the 2000 Olympics in Sydney on the horizon and hopes for a professional women's league still in their heads, the U.S players don't want to be forgotten.

When the World Cup champion U.S. women announced they were going on an indoor tour later this year - including a stop at the First Union Spectrum on Nov. 13 - the United States Soccer Federation threatened to file a lawsuit to stop the unauthorized tour. The Federation was planning its own Victory Tour, and also had plans for the national team to tour Australia and Africa during the time of the indoor dates. Saner heads prevailed - did the federation really want to take on its hottest marketing property?