Trusty Addresses Family Issues Following World Cup Participation
Celtic defender Auston Trusty recently revealed that family matters delayed his return to pre-season training. The 27-year-old centre-back, who played a key role in helping the United States reach the round of 16 in the World Cup, reflected on his challenges during this transition period.
Trusty scored in the 3-2 group stage loss to Turkey, but his focus shifted as he faced his father’s hospitalization shortly after the tournament. “Unfortunately, I finished the World Cup and then I had some family stuff go on with my father in the hospital,” Trusty shared. He described the abrupt change in his circumstances, moving from the excitement of the World Cup to a difficult family situation.
He continued, “I haven’t really had a chance to really take in [what happened at the World Cup] because I finished the World Cup, the off-season stuff with my father went on, and then I was dealing with that and then I’ve come back to pre-season.”
Despite these personal challenges, Trusty started in Celtic’s 1-0 victory over Dundee in their Scottish Premiership opener, just weeks after his last World Cup match. However, he recognized that missing a portion of pre-season affected his preparation. “I missed a good portion of the pre-season, so I wasn’t really there to see all the ins and outs of it,” he noted.
As Celtic prepares for their next match against Kilmarnock, Trusty emphasized the importance of focusing on their own performance, despite Kilmarnock’s shaky start in the season. “It’s more on us. We just need to play our game and do our thing,” he said. He acknowledged the strength of their opponents but reiterated the need for Celtic to stick to their style of play.
Celtic defender Auston Trusty admits he missed the start of pre-season as his father was in hospital.
The centre-back made it to the round of 16 with the United States in their home World Cup and even scored in their 3-2 group stage defeat by Turkey.
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Trusty, 27, was in the starting line-up for champions Celtic’s 1-0 opening Scottish Premiership victory over Dundee on Monday – less than a month on from his final World Cup appearance.
But the defender admits there were some off-field issues that held up his return to Glasgow.
“Unfortunately, I finished the World Cup and then I had some family stuff go on with my father in the hospital,” Trusty explained.
“So, I kind of quickly [went from] such a high to such a low. That’s why I had some extra time off just because I was having that go on, which is really sad.
“I haven’t really had a chance to really take in [what happened at the World Cup] because I finished the World Cup, the off-season stuff with my father went on and then I was dealing with that and then I’ve come back to pre-season. So, I haven’t really had much time to really take it in.
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“I missed a good portion of the pre-season, so I wasn’t really there to see all the ins and outs of it. But yeah, I think there’s a lot more to come from us, for sure.”
Celtic continue their season with a trip to Kilmarnock and will play on the Ayrshire club’s new hybrid grass pitch for the first time.
Kilmarnock were beaten 4-3 at St Johnstone in their season opener last weekend but Trusty is urging Celtic to focus on themselves.
“Obviously, it’s a different surface and they didn’t get off to the best starts last week,” he said.
“It’s more on us. We just need to play our game and do our thing. We’ve got to look inwards and play the Celtic way and play our game, that kind of takes care of itself.
“Obviously, they have good players and a good team and we can’t take them lightly, but we’ve got to look inwards.”
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