In Zavier Gozo, Crystal Palace land a US prospect living up to the hype

<p>The 19-year-old US youth international has turned heads in MLS this year, and is on the cusp of a USMNT breakthrough</p><p>For much of the past year, the story of American starlet Zavier Gozo has been one of realizing potential – even in failure. Speaking with the Guardian the day after he and Real Salt Lake teammate Diego Luna <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/may/25/diego-luna-usmnt-world-cup-real-salt-lake-zavier-gozo">learned</a> they wouldn’t be on Mauricio Pochettino’s squad for this summer’s World Cup, the 19-year-old Gozo admitted the rejection made him realize how close he’d gotten to earning a spot.</p><p>“I thought I would be less disappointed than I was,” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/may/25/diego-luna-usmnt-world-cup-real-salt-lake-zavier-gozo">Gozo said</a><em><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/may/25/diego-luna-usmnt-world-cup-real-salt-lake-zavier-gozo"> </a></em><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/may/25/diego-luna-usmnt-world-cup-real-salt-lake-zavier-gozo">in May</a>. “Obviously, it wasn’t like I was supposed to go. I feel like I was disappointed, but I also think it just gave me so much more motivation to be able to make the first team, whenever that is.”</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/aug/18/zavier-gozo-crystal-palace-mls-real-salt-lake-transfer">Continue reading...</a>