Jozy Altidore finally found the back of the net.

The U.S. men’s national team forward, who hadn’t scored from the run of play since June 2011, fired the opening salvo of an offensive explosion that sent the 47,359 in attendance at RFK Stadium on Sunday into a frenzy. Clint Dempsey, the captain of the U.S. team added two goals of his own en route to a 4-3 victory over a watered-down but still talented German national team.

For Altidore, who plays professionally with the Dutch team AZ Alkmaar, which he leads in scoring this year, the goal came as a relief. “I honestly feel like I’ve been doing the right things,” Altidore said after the match. “It was just a matter of being patient and waiting for my chances.”

After being comprehensively dismantled by a talented Belgian team last week and ahead of three vital World Cup qualifying matches the next few weeks, the U.S. side entered Sunday’s match with Germany in need of a something other than a loss, if only to boost their confidence. The end result is more than an upset. It provides the U.S. team with a dose of swagger heading into their qualifying game with Jamaica on Friday.

Altidore opened the scoring in the 13th minute, volleying a Graham Zusi cross past German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Stegen would figure in the second U.S. goal just four minutes later, misplaying a routine back pass from teammate Benedikt Howedes for an absolutely shocking own-goal:

Germany—which left many of its normal starters at home—looked energized at the beginning of second half and pulled one back in the 51st minute. Halftime sub Heiko Westermann got his head on a Max Kruse corner kick from about six yards out, drawing the Germans to within a single goal. The U.S. answered quickly, relying on a pair of goals from Dempsey to give them a comfortable 4-1 lead. Dempsy ran onto an Eddie Johnson cross for his first goal, and scored an absolute stunner for his second:

The Germans refused to go quietly, however, taking advantage of a poor second half defensive effort from the U.S. team. Max Kruse struck in the 78th minute with well-placed effort from some 20 yards out. Just three minutes later, Sydney Sam sent a bouncing strike towards goal that U.S. keeper Tim Howard parried to his right. The rebound, however, fell directly to Julian Draxler, who tapped it home to make it 4-3.

The match was part of U.S. Soccer’s 100th anniversary and was played in front of a sold-out crowd. Bleachers were added behind both goals to increase the capacity into parts of the stadium haven’t been used for soccer matches since the Washington football team moved to FedEx field in 1997. The U.S. has played more matches at RFK than any other venue, and a strongly pro-American crowd filled the air of the old building with a roar it hadn’t heard in years.

“This was such an entertaining game as your centennial game,” said Jurgen Klinsmann, the U.S. team’s head coach and a former star for the German national team. “This is cool for the players. It’s a special game, playing one of the top teams in the world and adding a sellout here at RFK, and we celebrated that the right way.”

The U.S. will look to ride the energy gained from the friendly encounter into a series of matches of much greater importance. They’ll travel to Jamaica for their match on Friday before returning home to Seattle to face Panama on June 11 and rounding out their series of World Cup qualifiers with an match against Honduras on the June 18.

The full highlight package from U.S. Soccer: