Jurgen Klinsmann promised a soccer revolution. Instead, he’s giving the United States a chance to succeed.

The Americans wrapped up their World Cup prep matches with Saturday’s 2-1 triumph over Nigeria in Jacksonville, Florida, and aside from Jozy Altidore’s return to form with both U.S. goals, most notable was how Klinsmann is using his midfield to compact the field, cut off the opponent’s attack, and then go forward from deep.

It’s a tactic that might prod the Yanks out of a difficult group and into the knockout stage in Brazil. That would make for a successful World Cup, regardless of what follows.

UNITED STATES, JACKSONVILLE : JACKSONVILLE, FL – Forward Jozy Altidore #17 of the United States shoots and scores his second game of the game behind defender Joseph Yobo #2 of Nigeria during the international friendly match at EverBank Field on June 7, 2014 in Jacksonville, Florida. AFP

Michael Bradley, whose wonderful pass set up Altidore’s second goal, was exceptional at the top of Klinsmann’s midfield diamond, and Kyle Beckerman — widely seen as the “bench” holding midfielder when the roster was announced — expertly cleaned things up underneath. But the key might be Jermaine Jones, who is being employed as a destroyer on the right side but does so much more. His pass started things off on the first goal.

It gave the U.S. command against Nigeria, the opponent meant to prepare Klinsmann’s boys for their June 16 opener against Ghana, despite a slow start marked by struggles keeping hold of the ball.

“We felt, in the Turkey game, that they were able to get into some dangerous spots on us. Our focus this week was to get everybody behind the ball,” Beckerman, Real Salt Lake’s captain, told reporters after the game. “We are playing against good teams, and they are going to have some possession, but if we keep them from being dangerous, then their possession doesn’t mean anything.

“We felt that if we could win the ball, we could expose them with some numbers. We really defended together, we had each others’ backs, and then when we won the ball, we got into some really dangerous spots for ourselves. It felt really good tonight.”

Keeping things tight is part of Klinsmann’s plan. They won’t want to leave space for Cristiano Ronaldo to exploit for Portugal in what probably will be the critical match for the U.S., and the Ghanaians and especially Germans are pretty crafty going forward, too.

“What we’ve worked on since we started camp is compactness as a whole,” said Klinsmann, whose team beat Azerbaijan and Turkey in its first two preps. “Everybody has to work, starting with Jozy up front. Clint [Dempsey] has to tuck in. We have to make the spaces as tight as possible, that’s just the way it is, to avoid any passes through the lines and giving them too many open shots.”

Klinsmann was impressed with Bradley, Jones and Beckerman, his “holding” midfielders.

“I saw a lot of work that they did, tremendous cleaning up all over the place,” he said. “We know that’s Kyle’s specialty, to protect his teammates and to run endless miles for his team. Jermaine, in that half position, then has more freedom to go forward so he can switch back and forth with Michael Bradley and knows that there’s someone behind him. I think that worked out really well. We wanted to try out that way, and it worked fine.”

Klinsmann has said the starting lineup isn’t set, that he wasn’t going to show off his first-choice squad against Nigeria, but his choices — Tim Howard in goal; Fabian Johnson, Geoff Cameron, Matt Besler and DaMarcus Beasley across the backline; Alejandro Bedoya on the left side of midfield with the three “holding” guys; and Altidore and Dempsey up top — sure look like a reasonable first XI.

Now it’s off to Brazil, where what occurred in these warmup games isn’t important.

“The reality is that these games mean nothing now,” Bradley said. “You use them for what they are in the moment, and you use them to sharpen up, to build some confidence, to get everybody even more fit. But the second they’re over, you move on.

“The reality is that now it’s all about shifting focus and being ready on June 16 when we step on the field against Ghana.”