World Cup co-hosts United States are feeling "a lot more comfortable with our identity" ahead of their tournament opener against Paraguay on Friday after their experience in Qatar four years ago.
"Those are games and experiences that you need. In Qatar, when we got out of the group and had to play against Holland… we didn't know really what to expect, how to manage the game, how to deal with certain scenarios," midfielder Tyler Adams said.
"Whereas now I feel a lot more comfortable with our identity and our own skin to be prepared for that."
He added: "Now, you have a group of Americans playing together at a high level. Let's show everyone what we're capable of doing."
Adams also said that hosting the World Cup is "the biggest opportunity to really grow the game, to inspire people, to show that American players are at the level of the rest of the world."
The furthest the US has ever advanced at a World Cup was the quarter-finals in 2002 and they now hope to do better playing at home.
"Any World Cup game is a huge opportunity for us," forward Christian Pulisic said. "We have three really good games to show everyone what we're all about and hopefully move on and go from there."
The US are in Group D and also face Australia on June 19 and Turkey on June 25.
