The sight of Jurgen Klinsmann striding along the touchline, pumping his fist in the air, after the USA had beaten Panama in the Gold Cup final was not one that sits easily.

You never can be sure how history will interpret life, but let us hope that it acknowledges Phil Woosnam, who died on Friday at age 80, as one of the key pioneers of American soccer.

Once in a while, a glimpse of undeniable reality disturbs the comfortable certainties of English refereeing attitudes. The least acceptable -- and the least explicable -- of those certainties is the notion that whenever a referee is uncertain about a call, he gives the benefit of his doubt to the defending team.

A month ago we had Harry Redknapp telling the world what he thought of English soccer: "We do not know how to play football." An extraordinary statement, particularly coming from a guy who is often cited as one of the few top-level, genuinely English coaches (of the English Premier League's 20 coaches, only four are English; Redknapp is not one of them, his team Queens Park Rangers having been relegated to the Championship at the end of last season).

At last, the USA has a coach with vision. For the first time in my experience of U.S. national team coaches -- an experience that reaches back over 45 years -- I am looking at a coach, Tab Ramos, who has the vision to take in the full extent of the rather tangled American soccer scene, and who has the courage to respond to what he sees.

Here we go again, alas, alas. And, for me, it really is alas, because once again we've got a good young American coach losing it and berating the referee. A few weeks back, it was John Hackworth and Caleb Porter. This time it's D.C. United's Ben Olsen erupting after his team's 1-0 loss to Vancouver on Saturday.