'This is all real now' - Zavier Gozo's dreams are coming true with the USMNT and Crystal Palace, but adjusting to his new reality comes with challenges

A new signing's first training session is, essentially, an audition. Doubly so if you're a relatively unknown teenager making the leap from MLS to England's top flight. In that first training session, every new teammate is out to see what that player is about. Can they hang on and off the field?

Gozo didn't see that first session as cutthroat; he saw it as welcoming. So far, everyone at Palace has gone above and beyond to make him feel comfortable. Once you step on the field, though, there is no welcoming party, just the speed of the Premier League.

"You're playing well at RSL, and you come with the confidence that comes with that, and also the confidence of getting bought by a team that has confidence in you," he says, "But this is such a faster game. There are things that I wouldn't have to do at RSL that I'm having to do here. How much you have to run? How much you have to think? More, more so. I thought to myself, 'Yes, I can do this, but it will take time.'"

Whatever he did in those first few sessions worked. After playing one game and scoring for Crystal Palace's U21s shortly after arriving, Gozo played the final 22 minutes of the club's Aug. 28 match against Manchester City. It came just 10 days after his signing was finalized.

"I made my debut, and it was like 'Wow, I just played against Manchester City!'," he says. "Erling Haaland, Rayan Cherki - all these guys. I just played in the Premier League, and this is all I've ever wanted, but you're hungry again to play the next game and to get better and to actually affect the game and score goals, provide assists. Next time, you want to play well."

Particularly in the weeks since, Gozo has been keeping a closer eye on the guys that have been playing well. Bournemouth's Junior Kroupi, for example, is one. Desire Doue and Michael Olise, of course, are at the top of their games, so they're worth studying, too. Closer to home, the 19-year-old winger says he's already learned a lot from Crystal Palace teammate and World Cup winner Yeremy Pino.

"Being at Crystal Palace has just opened my eyes to what football is," he says, "and the complexity of it."

That's a good word to describe the experience so far: complex. Gozo says he needed that complexity, though.

"I don't believe that I'm the worst player on the team, but I feel like you've got to tell yourself that you're the worst player here," he says. "Every day, I need to work to be the best player that I can be. You go to training and try to play your best every day because I'm not playing my best. I know I can play better than what I'm playing. That's why I wanted to go to Europe.

"At RSL, you play well in training, and you feel like 'Okay, like I'm one of the best players here', but feeling like that isn't good, especially at my age. I want to be like, 'That's the guy I want to catch because I want to be at that level'. I don't think I'm at the level to be effective in the Premier League at this second; I can get there 1,000 percent. That's what I'm striving for."

Those are the on-field adjustments. As for the off-field ones, those have been eye-opening, too.

While Gozo often thinks about the player he can be, there have also been some fun reminders of who he is: a 19-year-old kid going through a series of life transitions.

"It was me going, 'Okay, I'm staying here, and this is where I'm staying for five years', or however long it is," he says. "I had to mentally get myself to believe that this is my life now, and this is what it looks like. I've never been anywhere outside of Utah, to live at least."

Some of the new life transitions are hard. Many of them are funny.

The struggles with driving were one. At one point during his first few days, Gozo had to pull over and recalibrate himself for a moment. It's made him feel 'crazy', he says, now that every drive has to begin with a reminder of which door to open to even get into the car.

Then there's the food.

"I got a burger one time, and it just wasn't the same," he says. "I feel like you can go anywhere in the U.S. and get a great burger, but you really have to really know where you're going in England to get good food. Everything's so different. You could try to get Chipotle, but it's not the same. You get Chick-Fil-A, and it's just not the same."

Fortunately, Palace has been super helpful. Gozo spent the first few weeks at a hotel, but moved into his own apartment just before the international break. Thankfully, it was furnished, Gozo said, which took away a lot of the headache. He's since added some key essentials, like a PlayStation.

Yet there have been growing pains as Gozo has learned some valuable lessons about the little things he never had to think of before.

"The biggest shock for me was going to the bathroom and trying to wash my hands, but I have no soap," he says. "There are things you never think about: paper towels, the sponge to wash the dishes, things like that. It was like, 'I don't have that, and I need to go get that'. I'm responsible for cleaning the house! There are so many little things you don't think about when you live at home."

One of the harder parts of it all, Gozo said, was saying goodbye to family. They joined him on that initial trip, but eventually, it was time for them to return to Utah. Everyone involved was afraid to be the one to make it sad and, fortunately, no one did. Gozo's unsure of how his family would have handled it if they'd had a proper goodbye.

Despite not being near his parents and older brother, Elijah, Gozo has found himself a family that has gone above and beyond with taking him in.

On one of the first Sundays Gozo spent in London, he was invited to lunch by his new neighbor. That neighbor is, of course, Crystal Palace's other American, Chris Richards. The center back lives across the street, and there are no real words Gozo can put together to convey how helpful that's been.

"He's a great person," Gozo says. "He's such a warm person to be around and is obviously very welcoming. I've gotten to know his girlfriend, his daughter, and his mother-in-law. I already have a family away from family."

Richards says the feeling is mutual. His daughter is "infatuated" with his new teammate, he says. Gozo's arrival has been uplifting for him, too, particularly at the start of this new World Cup cycle.

“I think whenever a young kid comes into a team like this, you are a bit hesitant, especially when they're from your own country,” Richards told GOAL in August. “There's always like, ‘Oh, you have to take care of him’,  but one thing that's been really amazing seeing him is that he doesn't fear anybody.  I think a lot of the time, young kids play young. He actually plays very mature, and I think that's helped him.”

He added, “For me to have the perspective of somebody who's looking to make his first cap, that's what's made it refreshing for me."

The fun extended to USMNT camp, where Gozo was one of 13 uncapped players and eight teenagers. As is tradition, there was an initiation, which included each newcomer performing a song of their choice. Gozo's was "Let Me Love You" by Mario.

"There are some people who are really good singers," Richards said. "Zavier did really well, so I give him props, and not just because he's sat right here, but he actually surprised us. I'll say there are some people who probably shouldn't sing anymore. I think we had a good combination of guys who went fully in for it, and some guys who, again, probably shouldn't sing anymore."

Through camp, Richards was there to help guide Gozo through that first USMNT experience. As camp ended, he vowed to guide him through the next ones, too.

"I think I'll have to help him a little bit with jet lag and things like that," Richards said after the USMNT's win over Canada, "but I think he'll definitely have that pep in his step. Being able to play for your senior national team, I think it's something that's one of the proudest moments of my career. I know that when it was my turn, I was very excited, so I'm sure he'll be feeling that same excitement for a while."

This past summer, Gozo got an up-close look at the USMNT. Alongside Mathis Albert, he attended the USMNT's group-opener against Paraguay in Los Angeles. It lit a fire in him.

"The team played so well," he says. "The whole World Cup fueled that fire for every young player to be like, 'I want to be on that team, and I want to play on that stage.' It was the same for me.

"Looking forward to 2030 and having the possibility of getting to the level where I can be on that team, with a lot of the guys that are here and are upcoming, it's an amazing feeling. It's obviously something you look forward to...I was excited to come [to USMNT camp] because being in the U.S. feels like home, and obviously to play for the national team is an amazing honor for me."

That's a long way away, though. There's so much to do until then. The Olympics are on the horizon, of course, as are the Nations League, the Gold Cup and World Cup qualifiers. There may just be a Copa America, too. Gozo's place at all of those things is far from guaranteed. It will depend on how much he improves, and so much of his improvement will be done in London. It will be done far from home in training sessions where he's constantly reminded of how much he has to get better.

He will get better, though. He guarantees it. That flight to England marked a new beginning, and reaching the Premier League was one dream fulfilled. Now comes the work of becoming a player who can make an impact there. It won't happen immediately, and Gozo knew that when he left Utah. The challenge was part of the reason he wanted to go.

"I'm excited, but I want more," he says. "I think it's the same [with the USMNT]. Obviously, playing for your country means a little bit more to me, just because that's the biggest dream I ever dreamed when I was a kid: to play for your country, especially at the highest level.

"But then also it's like next game. I want to play, and I want to be able to actually affect the game. I want to help the team. For me, this is all a mixture of appreciating what's happened, but being hungry for more."