Santino Quaranta’s emotional evening took center stage — but there was still the matter of the match itself, a solid 2-0 win for U.S. over a tricky Honduras side last night at a pumping RFK Stadium.

Obviously, ‘Tino wasn’t the only player out there who had something to prove in front of the 27,000-plus on hand — two former United players made a return to their former home, if but in a different jersey. Former United goalkeeper Troy Perkins was looking to solidify his spot on the depth chart behind top-choice Tim Howard and consensus backup Brad Guzan. And of course, there was United’s former teenage sensation Freddy Adu — the American soccer messiah that we’re all still waiting on — who finally got some playing time after being glued to the bench for the entirety of the States’ incredible run to the finals of the FIFA Confererations Cup.

How can we measure their performances? Well, maybe this says it best: Perkins was more than happy to come to the sideline after the match, reliving his RFK days with the bouncing fans in attendance; Adu was nowhere to be found.

“Playing here for four years, it brought back some good memories,” said Perkins, whose second straight clean sheet is going an awful long way towards building his reputation in the national team setup. Teams usually bring three keepers to the World Cup — and the man who was 2006 MLS Goalkeeper of the year for United looks like he could be that guy.