Auston Trusty would have left the SoFi Stadium on Friday with mixed emotions.
On the one hand, the Celtic defender scored his first World Cup goal for his country, but on the other hand, the USMNT were beaten 3-2 by Turkey in their final group game.
Given that the United States had already qualified for the knockout stages, after winning their first two matches, Mauricio Pochettino made wholesale changes, including bringing Trusty into left-back.
Not many USA players impressed, but CBS Sports wanted to give Trusty his flowers, including how he overcame a scare towards the end of the match when he went down with an injury.
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USA legends suggest Auston Trusty has boosted his World Cup chances
The two men who were lauding and applauding Trusty’s performance against Turkey were Tony Meola and Marcelo Balboa.
They noted Trusty going down in pain during the final minutes of the match, when it was still 2-2, before getting back up and hobbling for the rest of the game.
Provided Trusty has avoided a serious injury, Meola feels Pochettino can safely rely on the Celtic centre-back for the USMNT’s last-32 clash against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Balboa was also forthright on CBS by explaining that there are now players within this United States team who won’t see the light of day again for the remainder of this tournament.
But Balboa doesn’t think Trusty is in that camp, as he put him in a camp of ’16 or 17 players you can rely on.’
Either way, Celtic fans will love the praise Trusty is getting on the World Cup stage, because what helps his cause also helps the champions of Scotland going forward.
Tony Meola: “The only concern is that Auston Trusty was a little bit banged up. I thought he played really well. He seemed to be one of those guys whom we can trust moving forward. We will see how that plays out (ahead of the Bosnia game).”
Marcelo Balboa: “I am not okay losing, but I understand what he (Pochettino) did against Turkey.
“I think it helped players like Sebastian Berhalter. I thought it was fantastic what he did. I think it also helped Trusty. He had a very good game.
“Besides that, nobody wants to lose. You learn more from losing than you do from winning sometimes. I think they have learned a lot. They have learned that some of these players you can’t trust and you can’t put on the field anymore. We won’t see them anymore. There are a group of 16 or 17 players that you know you can rely on. They will walk in and keep the level at what it was before.”
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