The methodic rise of the USMNT's unassuming star in the making

The hair could give you the wrong idea. The blond, Neymar-inspired part-afro, part-Mohawk, part-fade might leave you with the impression that United States and Los Angeles Galaxy forward Gyasi Zardes is some kind of flamboyant party boy wunderkind – like Neymar himself. It could give you the sense that he's at least as serious about his look as he is his career, if not more so.

But you would be misled.

First, we'll address that skunk-like band running atop his head. "My reason I color it blond is because my grandparents attend the games, and they have bad eyesight," Zardes told KickTV in late 2013, when he was a Major League Soccer rookie. "So they wouldn't know who I am unless I have a blond stripe on my head."

As for the career, you will have doubtless noticed Zardes if you watched the U.S. men's national team lately and particularly when it squeaked by Haiti last Friday night. Just two minutes after coming on at halftime, Zardes hurtled away on the left flank and cut a precise ball back for Clint Dempsey to score the game's only goal. Afterwards, speaking to a handful of reporters in his relaxed, affable affect, he took no plaudits at all.

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"Clint – what a beautiful finish, man," he said, before depositing the other half of the credit in the account of left back Greg Garza, who had set him up to give the assist with a nice deep ball.

But head coach Jurgen Klinsmann gushed over Zardes's skill set. "Gyasi has this special talent to take people on, and also with his speed and surprising elements," he said. But the man himself played down his role in the goal. That, more than the flashy haircut, is the essence of Zardes.

Even though he frequents some barber-to-the-stars, the 23-year-old is unassuming – actually humble, unlike the cliché bestowed on so many undeserving athletes. He's a family man, married to his college sweetheart and a father to a one-year-old son, Gyan. He's deeply religious. He doesn't go clubbing; he goes to restaurants on date nights with his wife.

Zardes hails from Hawthorne, a short ways south from Los Angeles, one of five children to Ghanaian parents. "If you're looking for trouble in Hawthorne, you'll definitely find it," Zardes once said. "Hawthorne was a place to fail." So, like his three older brothers, he played soccer, beginning at age 4. Some 19 years later, he scored his first goal for the U.S. in a friendly against the Netherlands last month, with a deceptively difficult outside-of-the-boot finish that underscored all that makes him special – the speed, the skill, the instinct.

Even U.S. captain Michael Bradley, who saves his praise for only the most deserving of men, is effusive.

"He brings energy, brings mobility, he's dynamic," Bradley told reporters after the Haiti game. "He's someone the other team really has to respect in terms of his speed and his ability to run. That's certainly shown over the last few months and, going forward, he's a guy that has to be a big part of this [team]."

But if his rise has seemed quick, it wasn't. Zardes is a late-bloomer, sort of by design.

Emerging from the Galaxy academy, he needed more time to mature and enrolled at Cal State Bakersfield. But a spotty high school transcript rendered him ineligible to play soccer his freshman year. He did well enough as a sophomore and broke out in his junior season, scoring 18 goals. The Galaxy were ready to sign him as a homegrown player then, but he decided to return to school and scored another 15 goals with nine assists.

At length, he deemed himself ready for the pros. And after totaling four goals his rookie year, Zardes became the league's sixth-leading scorer with 16 goals in a 2014 season that also featured a victory in MLS Cup in which he became the first homegrown player to score in that game.

That breakout campaign earned him his first national team call-up in January, but by comparison, Jozy Altidore – who, granted, was cast into the national team preposterously young – had 65 caps by the time he was Zardes's age. Juan Agudelo has 20, to Zardes's 11, and he's 14 months younger. Then again, Zardes's maturation and career trajectory have been linear, unlike those other American strikers making an impact at an early age but mostly floundering in their club careers.

Every step of his soccer life so far has been deliberate and carefully calculated. Zardes trained with Liverpool and reportedly turned down offers from German Bundesliga clubs Freiburg and Nuremberg before re-joining the Galaxy out of college. He already has more MLS goals (24) than Altidore (15) and Agudelo (18) had when they bolted for Europe, and he has given no indication that he intends to head overseas anytime soon.

He has found mentors and devoted himself to cultivating his craft. He pestered the veterans at the Galaxy for trade secrets. "It's a lot of confidence that comes from that," Zardes said. "I learned so much from Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan. I always pick their brain and they always give me helpful tips. That's what helps me really feel at home with these guys on the national team as well."

If his eagerness and zeal are obvious, Zardes has learned to pace himself. "With Gyasi it's a process that we are watching, that we are helping with," Klinsmann said. "His club as well is doing a tremendous job. He has a lot of talent, a lot of potential. We just want to tell him every day 'One step at a time.' "

So in the meantime, he learns and improves. "He has an amazing, positive attitude to the game, to his work," Klinsmann said. "He's not shy of doing extra whenever we ask him something. He's a curious personality, he wants to constantly learn. It's a real joy to work with him."

Zardes watches video on his own – "We have a great website, Match Analysis. I use it all the time. All the time." – in hopes of picking up more pointers on his own game. It's that toil that has earned him the respect of his U.S. teammates.

"When I first came into the national team, I was kind of timid," Zardes said. "I feel like the more games, the more training sessions I have with this coach, with the team, I'm starting to become more comfortable. My own character is starting to prevail."

So are his talents. Whether deployed as a wide midfielder or a forward, Zardes infuses the offense with a spark. And so long as he's on the field, he can run at defenders, which is all he really seems to care about.

"I just want to attack every chance I get the ball, I just want to go forward," he said. "I don't want to go back or sideways, I want to go forward."

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.