The U.S. men’s national team welcomed Peru to RFK Stadium on Friday evening in a friendly that felt a bit less meaningless than these mid-summer encounters typically do.

With elevated stakes ahead of their crucial CONCACAF Cup clash with Mexico in early October, the U.S. got the positive result they were looking for — riding a Jozy Altidore brace to a 2-1 triumph over La Blanquirroja in front of 28,896 evenly divided fans.

The win serves as a bit of a confidence boost, a small measure of comfort after the USMNT’s shocking performance at this year’s Gold Cup, one which saw them flame out against Jamaica in the semifinals before losing to Panama in the third-place match. The match against Peru — originally slated to be an opportunity for U.S. boss Jurgen Klinsmann to study his squad ahead of the U.S.’ upcoming World Cup qualifiers — instead turned into a crucial tune-up before their Confederations Cup playoff with Mexico, a game that didn’t even exist before their Gold Cup failure.

The U.S. got their first decent look inside of five minutes; LA Galaxy forward Gyasi Zardes streaked down the left flank, swiveling and firing in a dangerous ball that Peru goalkeeper Pedro Gales did well to parry away. Several moments later, Chavez gave Peru their opening chance, but Zardes’ Galaxy teammate — Omar Gonzalez — did well to body him off the ball on a breakaway.

Chavez wouldn’t have to wait long to get the better of Gonzalez. Against the run of play, the forward collected the ball 25 yards from goal, sped across the top of the area and struck a low effort that deflected off Gonzalez, popping up and over a diving Brad Guzan, who was caught off his line. The 20th minute goal was Chavez’s first ever, internationally.

“Obviously you saw why Peru finished third in Copa America,” Klinsmann said after the match. “It’s a very good team, and the work they’ve been doing there is outstanding. It’s a very disciplined, very organized team that are used to playing together. I’m very pleased with how [we] came back, obviously we had a very good start the first 15 minutes, then they took over, then on that deflected shot they got up a goal.”

New England Revolution midfielder Jermaine Jones very nearly tied the match a quarter of an hour later, galloping into space and letting it rip from 20 yards—his driven effort was just barely pushed over the bar by Gallese.

Almost immediately afterwards, the U.S. missed their best chance of the half. DeAndre Yedlin nodded a ball towards Toronto FC striker Jozy Altidore near the penalty spot; Altidore headed it towards U.S. defender John brooks at the top of the six yard box, but the Hertha Berlin defender did poorly with the service, skying it over the crossbar.

U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann made a trio of adjustments at the half, inserting Mix Diskerud, Ventura Alvarado and Geoff Cameron into the fray. Still, the U.S. seemed to lack urgency in the opening phase of the second stanza. It would take a bit of good fortune to get them back in the swing of things.

In the 59th minute, Cameron found Altidore in the box with a well-placed, 35-yard throw-in. Peru defender Carlos Zambrano, initially beaten on the play, appeared to bring Altidore down in the box, and referee Francisco Chacon immediately pointed to the spot.

Altidore stepped up to take the ensuing PK, sending it to Gallese’s left, but the Peruvian ‘keeper guessed correctly and blocked the initial effort; the rebound, however, bounced directly back to Altidore, who volleyed it home for the equalizer.

The goal galvanized the Americans. Just moments after Peru nearly reclaimed the lead on a close-range effort by second-half sub Renato Tapia, Yedlin, Zardes and Altidore combined for the U.S.’ second; Zardes’ cross from the near sideline caromed off a Peruvian defender and rolled into the path of Altidore, who confidently hammered it home from eight yards out.

The notoriously streaky Altidore has had a rough go of it as of late, sent home from the Gold Cup after the group stage for lacking “rhythm”; he was right on beat on Friday evening.

“He’s here for scoring goals — that’s his job,” Jones said. “He’s a guy that sometimes it looks like he’s lazy and sometimes he’s maybe not fit. But I know him a little bit now and know that he’s going to try to look forward and try to help the team and try the best. Sometimes it maybe looks not like that, but I’m happy that he scored today.”

Peru got a handful of chances to pull level again, but none posed any particular danger to Guzan, who overcame his early nerves to put in a very solid second half.

Up next for the USMNT: one final tune-up before their clash with Mexico, a date with global powerhouse Brazil at Gillette stadium on Tuesday evening.