The crowd of 31,087 was strong for a U.S. game. And perhaps more importantly was that this crowd was decidedly pro-American - which isn't the case for most national team matches.
Because the United States has such ethnic diversity, it's not unusual for a home game to have the feel of a road match.
On Saturday, Sam's Army (as U.S. fans call themselves) dwarfed a small contingent of Panamanians.
And in a totally unique experience of American soccer, a group of fans cheering for Honduras reversed their shirts for the second game to reveal their support for the United States.
The energy from the crowd helped carry a young and inexperienced American squad back from a 1-0 deficit.
Kyle Beckerman drew the United States even with his first national-team goal, and Kenny Cooper sent them on to the semifinals against Honduras in Chicago on Wednesday with a penalty kick in the first overtime.
The last time the national team had played in Philly, it lost, 4-0, to Israel on Sept. 25, 1968, at old Temple Stadium.
This was better.
"We look forward to bringing the men's national team back to Philadelphia and Lincoln Financial Field in the future if the date and circumstances are right for it," United States Soccer president Sunil Gulati said.
While there was an unquestionably large contingent of Honduras fans, the primary draw for this event was the U.S. team. Again, it has to be emphasized how that is not always the case. In cities like Los Angeles, Dallas and even New York, it's often hard to tell which is actually the home team based on crowd response.
What Saturday showed is that Philadelphia could join Boston and Washington as a stronghold for Team USA - a place where the American team feels like it's playing in America.
