For almost the entire time that Jurgen Klinsmann has been part of the American soccer landscape, he has yearned for the kind of occasion that Lincoln Financial Field hosted on Saturday. And not just since he took the helm of the U.S. men's soccer team five years ago.
Even before then, as a studio commentator on ESPN's coverage of the 2010 World Cup, he was firing broadsides at aspects of the American soccer system he didn't like.
In the same stadium that hosted Klinsmann's first game as U.S. coach in 2011, his longtime dream came true. Here was a game that demanded a result in order to reach the knockout stages of a tournament full of soccer superpowers.