Gedion Zelalem has been at Arsenal for two years, and the U.S. hopes that his technical skill will be an asset on the national team.

Gedion Zelalem comes across as a highly confident young man, but the 18-year-old Arsenal and U.S. national team prospect admits that a few weeks ago he was starting to wonder if he would ever get the chance to play for the United States.

"I was supposed to get the FIFA approval much earlier," Zelalem told ESPN FC in a phone interview Wednesday night. "When there was a week left, I didn't think it would happen because I had been waiting four of five months. It was rough."

In the end, Zelalem received the OK just in time to suit up for the Americans at the 2015 U-20 World Cup, which begins in New Zealand on Saturday. Official word arrived May 13, two days before the deadline. It's been a whirlwind for Zelalem since. The midfielder joined the team in Australia, where the squad was training ahead of the tournament. He made his U.S. debut on May 19, coming on in the second half of the Yanks' last official tuneup match.

Now, Zelalem is hoping to help the U.S. in games that count, although how much U.S. U-20 coach Tab Ramos uses the newcomer when the competition kicks off remains to be seen. Ramos told ESPN FC that while he believes Zelalem can help, it's important to remember that he just joined a team that has been together for the better part of two years.

"I certainly don't want the pressure to fall on him, because he's young and because he just got here," Ramos said.

There are also practical reasons not to rush a player who is still developing physically.

"He is a smaller player, and because he's two years younger than some of the players he'll face, there's going to be some physical challenges that he'll lose," said the coach. "But that's OK, because he's going to have to figure out how to get the ball first and play it quickly. You have to adjust."

After waiting so long for his chance, that's just fine with Zelalem.

"I'm excited just to be here," he said. "I didn't expect it."

Zelalem had other options internationally. He had represented Germany, his birth nation, at the youth level, and was also eligible to play for Ethiopia, where his parents are from. But although he became a U.S. citizen only in December, he felt like an American after living in Maryland from ages 9-15. After that, he moved to London to join the Gunners.

"It was purely just a feeling of knowing I was American," Zelalem said in a distinctly American accent that, like most stateside teenagers, he peppers with liberal use of the word "like."

"My family and friends are there," Zelalem said. "All along, I only wanted to play for the U.S."

The feeling was mutual. In March, senior team coach and U.S. Soccer technical director Jurgen Klinsmann said that the technical Zelalem was skilled enough to join his squad immediately. By then, Klinsmann and U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati were well into the process of trying to convince FIFA to approve Zelalem by overruling a little-known rule that forbids a naturalized citizen from representing their new country unless they've lived in it for five years after turning 18.

"Jurgen and Sunil assured me that everything would be OK and that we'd get it. They were right," Zelalem said. "I'm really happy." So happy, in fact, that he doesn't really care how much he plays or which team he's with.

"I wasn't sure where I would be this summer, with Jurgen's team or Tab's team," he said, adding that he's watched each of the senior squad's 10 friendlies since the 2014 World Cup. "But for me it didn't matter, because I just wanted to play for the U.S."

In the end, it worked out well for both parties. Zelalem gets to start his U.S. career away from the spotlight and with players his own age, without the added pressure to perform against grown men before he's truly ready. Not that he thinks he isn't.

"Those expectations come from me, as well," he said when asked what he thought of Klinsmann's comments. "It's not just Jurgen. I think I'm good enough to play there, too."

Doug McIntyre is a staff writer for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @DougMacESPN.