The United States will advance to the last 16 of the World Cup with a win tonight over Portugal. As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post, the Americans have advanced past the group stage in every World Cup hosted outside Europe since 1990.

Since the new millennium began, one of U.S. Soccer’s brightest moments was their 3-2 win over Portugal in 2002. To many players of the current generation, the game is one of those “Where were you?” moments in American sports. It was a memorable game right from the start, when John O’Brien gave the U.S. a 1-0 lead, which increased to 3-0 through an own goal and a Brian McBride header, up until the final whistle, with Portugal clawing back thanks to Beto and an own goal from Jeff Agoos. Here are highlights of that ’02 encounter (uploaded to YouTube by Benjamin Rodriguez):

12 years later, the rosters have changed almost entirely. American DaMarcus Beasley is the only player from either country to be included in both the 2002 and 2014 squads. The current U.S. team grew up hearing about their country making the quarterfinals in Korea/Japan, while the Portuguese are well aware of the failure to advance in 2002, though they would make the semifinals four years later. With the Americans on the verge of qualifying for the knockout round with a game to spare, will they take advantage of the opportunity?