The United States have travelled to Scotland in search of improvement.

The intention is that Gordon Strachan's side will provide the kind of competitive challenge that will bring the best out of their opponents. Juergen Klinsmann arranges friendly matches in Europe to save the majority of his squad from having to travel too far, but also because he knows they will also find judgement here, and a sense of perspective.

Football in America is rising, in popularity, in status, in self-esteem. Klinsmann, with his easy charm, grace and hard-edged mentality, seems an ideal fit in the role of leading the national team closer to the major established nations. He talks about players being "on the bubble" of the squad, of "rosters" and of "soccer", but these are quirks he has picked up living in California. He is of old football stock, a majestic and medal-winning German internationalist who was hired to guide the US to the next level.

He does not "live in the past", and invitations to recall past encounters in Scotland are met with a bemused grin, a shrug, and an excuse that "I don't have a good long-term memory". He was being polite, since a different request - to try to explain the decisions made a decade ago in Germany that led to their football renaissance - was met with a blunt reminder that he was at Hampden to talk about America.

Klinsmann, pictured, has assembled a strong squad who have learned what it takes to play at the elite level by moving to Europe. Some, such as Clint Dempsey - who will be missing tonight through injury - have now returned to Major League Soccer, which is working through another of its expansion phases. At Hampden, the US head coach expects a hard, demanding game, one that contrasts starkly from the last meeting, when his side won 5-1 on a hot night in Florida 18 months ago, when the Scots were at the end of a long, draining season.

"We expect [this] game [to be] eye to eye," Kilnsmann said. "It's going to be a real good test and a benchmark for a team that is trying to get better. These games away from home are crucial because it shows us how our learning process is coming along. We want to go into Europe and prove a point, which is to show other nations we are climbing the rankings slowly, that we want to be one of the best teams in the world."

When he is asked what he thinks of when he considers Scottish football, Klinsmann talks of passion, dedication, work-rate, emotion and individual talent; "big names they had in the past". It was a double- edged comment, since it is a reminder that Scotland do not live up to the achievements of the past. It is 15 years since the national team competed in the World Cup, while the Americans have qualified for seven in a row.

"I don't think you can compare that, because qualifying in Europe is different to qualifying in Concacaf," Klinsmann said. "We know why we are where we are but we know we have a long way to go still and we're very hungry for improvement. We're ambitious because Americans are ambitious people in general, they don't like to be second, third or fourth they want to be top. It's in their DNA, and we just keep on working and improving."