all of a sudden it won't start. 8V, 1.8, 161K, wolfsburg edition has spark and fuel pump works, what should I do?

This is a nice original Coupe that ran like a dream. the only thing I could think was fuel pump but I pulled the hose off the filter and its pumping fine when you hit the key. that tells me the electrical back to the pump is good. I thought pump because, it will make noise (like a buzzing) from that area after driving for couple hours. it would be a little hard to start after sitting sometimes but allways started and once it was warm it would start easy. could the pump be bad even though it's pumping? or what? charlie