INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Playing top-class foes in international soccer doesn’t go like this. And the U.S. facing World Cup crucibles has never gone like this.

Team USA’s 4-1 evisceration of heretofore-stout Paraguay wasn’t so much un-American as maybe, just maybe, new American: attack-minded; offensively fluid; and with a confidence unlike anything we’ve seen from them on this stage, perhaps ever.

“It’s pretty special to watch,” Christian Pulisic said. “It’s fun to look around and know there’s different guys that can pull off these different skills and moves going on. It’s great.”

The U.S. men’s national team always has played nail-biters in the World Cup. Get stuck in, defend and try to grind out results through work rate, conditioning and defense.