Even after they conceded an early goal on Friday, Paraguay kept affording the United States ample room up the channel. As the ball reached Malik Tillman and Weston McKennie in midfield, their disoriented opponents never quite seemed to know how to station themselves to stem the tide. The US’s off-ball movement further complicated those efforts, dizzying Paraguay’s defense before it could establish an ideal structure.

“I just tried to run in behind,” McKennie said after the US had completed their 4-1 victory. “I think I realized early on that they were struggling to follow my deep runs. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. I keep trying to do it until they figure something out. I was able to find more space than usual, and it was fun. I really enjoyed to get on the ball as much as I did.”

Throughout a remarkable first half, the heart of the park seemed fully in the co-hosts’ control. The spacing between Tyler Adams and the more advanced tandem of McKennie and Tillman seldom proved an issue as Paraguay struggled to position themselves in the passing lanes. In those rare moments, the US weren’t shy to recirculate, knowing the on-ball acumen of the defensive trio.

Throughout the 2022 World Cup, the US at times resembled a club team, in part because of how effectively their midfield trio operated. In Qatar, Adams and McKennie were joined by Yunus Musah for an “MMA” engine room that kept the ball moving and shifted itself accordingly to be sturdy when defending. Musah’s club career has since stagnated and he was barely in contention for this summer’s World Cup, but Tillman’s progress and the emergence of others – such as Johnny Cardoso, Sebastian Berhalter, Tanner Tessmann and Aidan Morris – made Musah’s regression a non-issue for Mauricio Pochettino.

While the personnel have changed, the dimensions of the field have not. The extra spaces McKennie scampered into on Friday weren’t due to some quirk concocted by this summer’s co-hosts. It’s an evolution of Pochettino’s design, built on the back of the progress of the US’s best players since Qatar.

By the time the Copa América came around in 2024, the midfield seemed to be the only dependably functional facet of Gregg Berhalter’s USMNT. Teams could operate in a low-to-mid defensive block, allowing the US to advance into the attacking half where they’d quickly run out of ideas. It had become clear that the system was designed to funnel the attack through Christian Pulisic, and opponents planned accordingly.

The one real boon to emerge from getting grouped at the Copa was the validation of Chris Richards’s bona fides. At that point, he had two seasons under his belt with Crystal Palace, but only became a regular starter along their backline after Oliver Glasner arrived in February 2024. Richards’s partnership with Tim Ream kept the US in games, but wasn’t enough to produce positive results against Panama and Uruguay.

Richards has since evolved further. He’s become even more vital to Palace since Marc Guéhi’s departure, and logged the most minutes of any player in the club’s triumphant 2024-25 FA Cup campaign. He was similarly regular as the club captured the Uefa Conference League this past season.

Richards has gained confidence from his success with Palace as well as his recovery from an ankle injury sustained late in the season, and he didn’t put a foot wrong against Paraguay. He set a World Cup record for passes with a 100% success rate (83), and worked with Adams to assess the Paraguayan structure before dishing off to Ream (to his left) or Alex Freeman (to his right) to begin the next advance upfield.

“It felt good,” Richards told the Guardian in the mixed zone. “Honestly, I wasn’t second guessing myself. That was the main thing. Playing with pain’s OK as long as I’m not second-guessing myself.”

Up the field was the US’s most vital newcomer of this World Cup cycle. Folarin Balogun’s commitment to the US – despite his eligibility for England and Nigeria – was a massive coup for a program that operated without a dependable striker from 2016 to 2023. Famous for his finesse, Balogun isn’t shy to outmuscle opponents and buy his teammates time to get into dangerous positions.

Balogun’s upbringing in Arsenal’s academy has given him exceptional movement and excellent reading of the game. As McKennie and Tillman navigated the channels, Balogun could comfortably drift into the correct spots to get the service he needed, giving Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill plenty of practice at picking the ball out of his net.

Without the gauntlet of Concacaf qualifying, and given the team’s inconsistency throughout Pochettino’s reign, there was understandable cause for concern that this group wasn’t ready for the World Cup. After several weeks refining their movement, the US were more than comfortable shunting the ball up and down their lines to keep control of the game. It didn’t take long for the fans at Los Angeles Stadium to break into the polite applause that accompanies savvy recirculation.

Joining big clubs hasn’t always worked for this generation of US players. Musah’s move to Milan ultimately set back his development: he never settled into one role as the club changed coaches with regularity after his arrival in 2023. Gio Reyna’s struggles cost him precious refinement with Dortmund and Mönchengladbach.

But right now, the US have the type of players they have often missed in the past. They have Richards, a defensive anchor who was vital to his club’s FA Cup and Conference League titles. And they have Balogun, a striker who, despite some dry spells, ranked fourth on Ligue 1’s goalscoring charts.

Opponents have to contend with Balogun while still facing the threat of Pulisic, who led Milan in goals just a year ago and has been in rare form since the Senegal friendly at the end of May. Reyna provided a timely reminder of why the program remains so optimistic about him in spite of scarce usage at the club level. McKennie (Juventus) and Adams (Bournemouth) have established themselves as vital midfielders for Europa League qualifiers.

Of course, plenty of other nations can go toe to toe with the US on talent. The US’s Group D rivals, Turkey, will arguably be the first such foe they face. The Turks have dazzling attackers who ply their trade at Real Madrid and Juventus, the brilliant Hakan Çalhanoğlu pulls the strings, and the tidy Merih Demiral is in defense. By the round of 16 the US will probably resume underdog status, and Belgium, France and Spain could fall in the same side of the bracket should the co-hosts top their group.

But there’s time for the US to build a head of steam as they consider those obstacles. Fans should thank their stars for birthright citizenship – without it, the US would still be without Balogun, a striker who can stretch the field and make life easier for his teammates.