Not long ago, there was a man in the U.S. men’s national team dugout that had fans divided. He seemed like a nice guy, wore cool Nike shoes and his players liked him. He was, by most accounts, a fine football coach. But when it came to tactics, to the details of building a team to win, that man fell short.

And so Gregg Berhalter was replaced by Mauricio Pochettino, one of the game’s best tacticians. Here was a hip Argentinian, with fresh ideas, and a pool of players, he believed, could fully implement them. In three short games in charge of the USMNT, Pochettino is starting to get it right in his summary. He didn’t so much reinvent this side as refine it, making some fairly fundamental, but at the same time important, changes. In fact, Pochettino excels in the areas where his predecessor fell short.

Through three matches – purely three games, it must be emphasized, friendlies against Panama and Mexico and a Nation’s League quarter-final against Jamaica – something tactical is happening. The USMNT is starting to do smart things, with and without the ball.

There are surface structures available. Players move at the right time, to the right spaces. Christian Pulisic, a virtuoso of an attacking player, is at the center of it all – but in a controlled manner. In short, this looks, in the smallest sample size, like the kind of impact tactical setup that was promised. After a 1-0 win against Jamaica on Thursday evening in Kingston – a match that was truly terrible in the closing minutes – one thing is clear: the USMNT has a system again. And it just might work.