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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)

The United States will host the 1994 World Cup, soccer's world governing body announced yesterday in Zurich, Switzerland. And, a spokesman for the Philadelphia Sports Congress says the city has a good chance to become one of the 12 sites selected to host the month-long, 52- match tournament, one of the world's most lavish sports events. "This area has everything that is needed to run the World Cup properly. Now, we have a chance to show it," R. C. Staab, the vice-president of communications at the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau and a spokesman for the Sports Congress, said yesterday.

In a historic break from more than 50 years of tradition, the United States has been chosen to host the 1994 World Cup soccer tournament. The decision was announced yesterday in Zurich, Switzerland, by Federation Internationale de Football Association, the world governing body of soccer, after a secret ballot of the 21-member Executive Committee. It marked the first time the World Cup has been awarded to a nation outside of either Western Europe or Latin America since the tournament, held every four years, was begun in 1930.

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.

Werner Fricker was convinced in 1983 that the United States was ready to host soccer's World Cup, and as president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, he was instrumental then in pushing to apply for the games. That bid failed, but Fricker, who lives in Horsham, has the United States trying again. And he was smiling yesterday when two representatives of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) - publicity director Guido Tognoni of Switzerland and Ernie Walker, secretary of the Scottish Football Association - joined Keith Walker, secretary of the USSF, in Philadelphia.

The docks of Norfolk's waterfront were packed with tourists gazing appreciatively at an armada of tall ships from around the world on a lovely June Sunday two years ago. The ships had stopped on their way to New York to help celebrate the centennial of the Statue of Liberty when suddenly sailors on one of the ships began singing, dancing and waving Argentine flags. The Argentine soccer team, it turned out, had just won the World Cup. Nearby, Americans had no idea why the Argentines were so excited.