Tuesday’s emphatic 4-0 win against Costa Rica proved that the U.S. Men’s National Team still has plenty of quality, and perhaps more imporantly, can push through adversity when they are being tested.

After the team’s lackluster showing vs. Colombia in their Group A opener, the U.S. remained level headed and accepted the challenge of stepping up against their CONCACAF rival last night.

While the U.S. struggled to create chances in front of goal in their first outing at Copa America, the attack had no such issues against Costa Rica. Veterans Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey each stepped up in a big way, while younger players like Gyasi Zardes and Bobby Wood each put in quality shifts up front.

Much of that success had to do with the players continuing their familiarity with one another. Head coach Jurgen Klinsmann kept the same starting XI out on the field Tuesday night in Chicago, proving that continuity has been and will continue to be important to the USMNT’s progression.

“Our hope was, obviously, to build a more fluid style by keeping the guys connected together in the starting XI, and that’s a luxury we never really get,” Klinsmann said. “World Cup qualifiers are always in different times of the year, so we’re always missing guys and we always have to improvise and kind of fix things up. So now, this is how we start the tournament.

“This is our ideal, these guys, and we can continue it in the second game. They start now to actually smell each other and make runs off each other This is a learning process, a development process, to integrate a young striker up front with Bobby. Bobby needs to learn how to play off Clint, Clint needs to get a feeling for Bobby. Where is he coming from and all of these things. We actually, finally, could send the same 11 out.

“We switched up the system from a 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2, fluid, no problem at all, because we figured we were losing too many balls so we can win them back with a lot of energy and it gave us a bit more width. Ale knows how to play the left wing. Gyasi obviously knows either way as a forward or as a winger. The flows stayed the same and that’s nice. It’s nice that we have that element there and we know whoever we bring off the bench, they’re hungry guys. If they get two minutes, they want to do something special in two minutes.”

The U.S. began the evening on the back foot the first few minutes as Los Ticos really came out flying and gave Klinsmann’s squad some fits with their pace. However, the game changed in a blink of an eye when Wood was barreled into from behind by defender Cristian Gamboa.

Unlike their meeting with Colombia, which saw an early goal prove to be the team’s undoing, the USMNT used Dempsey’s ninth-minute goal to dictate the pace for the rest of the match.

While Costa Rica appeared deflated after conceding inside of 10 minutes played, the U.S. built off of the great start and got stronger and stronger as the match progressed, adding three more finishes on the night.

“I think they deserve a huge, huge compliment for this performance,” Klinsmann said of the win. “We were eager to get on the field, eager to get three points in this tournament. It took a little bit to grind ourselves into the game in the first 15-20 minutes, but then once the first goal came, we kept pushing for the next one and pushing for the next one.

“I think it was overall a very, very pleasant performance and it confirms the spirit of the group,” Klinsmann added. “The spirit is excellent. They’re there for each other. The whole bench is up and down. Everybody wants to have the other one doing well. It’s a good group of guys that we have together.”