Six years since leaving the Union, Auston Trusty comes full circle with the USMNT

It might feel as if there’s some distance between Auston Trusty and Philadelphia at this point, in a way that isn’t so for the other natives of the area on the U.S. men’s soccer team.

The Media native has played abroad for nearly four years now, with stints at England’s Arsenal, Birmingham City, and Sheffield United and now a full-time home at Scotland’s Celtic.

But because the Union traded Trusty to the Colorado Rapids before that team launched him overseas, Trusty’s story lacks the direct link from Chester to Europe that Brenden Aaronson and Mark McKenzie have.

Nor does it help that the trade, at the end of 2019, happened largely because he didn’t fit in sporting director Ernst Tanner’s tactics. Trusty didn’t even get a homecoming game afterward because he had left for Europe when the Union next hosted the Rapids in 2022.

Meanwhile, some other prominent Union alumni — Matt Freese, Jack McGlynn, and Zack Steffen, for example — are in MLS these days, so they’re more visible on domestic turf.

But while Trusty doesn’t talk much about the Philly connections he keeps, it turns out he still has a lot of them. This week has finally given him the chance to open up about that as he enjoys a trip home with the U.S. men’s national team.

» READ MORE: Brenden Aaronson and Mark McKenzie relish their USMNT homecoming on the Union’s turf

The 27-year-old centerback still comes back to town every offseason. He trains at the Union’s facilities and is on the board of the Union’s youth academy. He regularly visits the team-run school to mentor the players there, giving them an in-person look at the future they want to achieve.

Whatever awkwardness there was in the trade has long since been left behind. Now the Union’s fan base gets to close the book, too, as Trusty might finally play at Subaru Park again when the U.S. faces Paraguay there on Saturday (5 p.m., TNT, Telemundo 62).

“It was the greatest blessing,” Trusty told The Inquirer this week. “That propelled me to where I am now. I think going to a new environment is what I wanted, and I was able to do that, and now I’ve played Champions League games, played in the [English] Premier League, and now I’m in the national team.”

Soccer fans in the U.S. who mainly watch the English Premier League might not view Celtic, or Scottish soccer generally, as being as big of a deal. But across the border and in much of Europe, Celtic’s name is still revered.

» READ MORE: Mauricio Pochettino reflects on the USMNT’s progress, and looks forward to his first game in Philly

The club that’s always clad in green and white has won a joint-record 55 league titles, including 13 of the last 14, and 42 Scottish Cups. Celtic Park is a 60,000-plus-seat cauldron of a stadium, and the “Old Firm” derby with Rangers across town — rooted in Glasgow’s historical Catholic-Protestant divide — is among world soccer’s fiercest rivalries.

Celtic also has an enormous global following through its links to Ireland and the Irish-Catholic diaspora. That includes many big American cities, with Philadelphia high up the list.

“You don’t really realize it until you actually get there, to realize how massive the club actually is,” Trusty said. “The whole atmosphere, from social media to going to the games, to away games, to Champions League games, it’s massive. It’s just a great club to be a part of, and to have fans in Philadelphia, I know there’s a Philadelphia fan club, so that’s pretty cool.”

Alas, this year has not been vintage. A lack of firepower has been compounded by injuries, including a torn Achilles tendon suffered by U.S. veteran Cameron Carter-Vickers. The Bhoys sit not just in second place, but seven points back of an unusual leader: Edinburgh’s Heart of Midlothian, seeking its first Scottish title since 1960.

» READ MORE: Haji Wright cashed in on a big chance with the USMNT last month. Now he gets another one.

The standings led to manager Brendan Rodgers’ ouster in late October, and he aimed some pointed words at his bosses on the way out the door.

“Unfortunately, it’s part of football — sometimes there’s managerial changes, and it’s just one of those things,” Trusty said. “It’s nothing I can control, right? … As a player, you don’t really have much say, you kind of have to just get on with it.”

Trusty couldn’t help, as he was sidelined by a foot injury that started in the preseason and then flared up again. Now he’s back, and has earned a vote of confidence from Celtic’s interim manager, Martin O’Neill.

It would be nice to think that his return to action is why he got a national team call-up this month, but it might not be that simple.

Trusty was called up in March for the Nations League final four, then had to withdraw because of an injury on the eve of his departure. He then wasn’t called up for the summer’s Gold Cup run, and at that point his playing time at Celtic had dropped considerably.

He did not say Carter-Vickers’ injury led to his return, but he knows that’s an outside perception. U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino already was looking for centerback depth, and now he needs to find even more of it.

» READ MORE: Tyler Adams is off the USMNT roster again, so the rest of the squad must adjust again

The Americans have four games left until the World Cup, two this month and two in March. Trusty is here right now and the opportunity is in front of him. That’s all that matters.

“It’s massive,” he said. “I think every opportunity you get to one, represent the country, and two, to prove yourself in and show your ability, it’s what you live for. It’s why you play the game. Any opportunity I get, if I get an opportunity, I’ll make the most of it, I’ll play to the best of my ability, and I’ll do my thing like I’ve always done.”

But it would mean a little more, he admitted, if he plays Saturday.

“It’s where my career started, back in Philadelphia, in the Union’s stadium,” Trusty said. “I’ve got a lot of family coming to the game, and all the people I’ve kept in touch with at the Union. Yeah, it would mean a lot.”

All the better, too, if he lines up with McKenzie again. They played together from the Union’s academy ranks through the first team, and Trusty’s senior U.S. debut in 2023 came with McKenzie next to him. (Aaronson also started that game, a 7-1 rout of Grenada in a Concacaf Nations League contest.)

» READ MORE: Philadelphia has been waiting six years to see the USMNT play here again

“He’s somebody who has an incredible mindset. He’s a competitor to the highest degree,” McKenzie said of Trusty this week. “It’s always special to be able to share the pitch with guys you came up with and guys who worked hard each and every day as young teenagers. … We’re all looking forward to the opportunity to represent our country together in home territory here in Philly.”

Trusty’s first milestone in a national team shirt was a decade ago, when he played at the 2015 under-17 World Cup. He already was on the radar back then, and signed his first pro contract in 2016. In 2017, he and former Union midfielder Derrick Jones joined what’s now a tradition of Union players going to under-20 World Cups. His MLS debut came in the 2018 season opener.

Seven years later, he recalled how as a kid, he knew soccer wasn’t the popular way to go. He understood why, playing basketball in the Media Hoops league and “idolizing” the Chester Biddy League that’s now based at the Union’s sports complex. He recalled battles between the Media All-Stars and a Chester All-Stars squad that featured one of his idols, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

“I think it’s pretty cool for a kid coming from outside of Philadelphia, growing up in a situation where playing soccer, playing football, wasn’t the thing to do,” Trusty said. “It was playing basketball, it was playing American football, it was playing baseball. Having to bribe my brothers and bribe my friends to come play with me outside, to [now] competing against the best people in the entire world, day in, day out.”

» READ MORE: With two more starts, Wayne’s Matt Freese remains atop the USMNT goalkeeper depth chart

It’s been a long time, and he has come a long way. This week, he can say he has come full circle.

“I think I’ve grown every single day,” he said. “Every time I step on the pitch, whether it’s training or in a game, you get experience, and that’s been my mindset — that’s what has allowed me to have success in this game. I have many goals for myself, but I know playing in the Premier League, playing in the Champions League, playing in the Europa League, playing for the national team, it’s everything I dreamed of as a little kid.”