Celtic defender in rare position change as he completes four-game sweep with win over rivals

Trusty, 28, has bounced back from a disappointing few weeks with Celtic to put in strong performances across the pond as Mauricio Pochettino’s have beaten Peru, Mexico and Chile over the extended international break.

However, despite his displays at centre-back, Trusty was deployed at left-back as the United States looked to end a five-game losing streak against Canada, replacing Antonee Robinson in Minnesota, with the Fulham star given a breather after the 3-0 win over Mexico at the weekend.

Sign up to The Scotsman’s daily football newsletter to get unrivalled Scottish football news and analysis - subscribe for free here.

One of the most intense and competitive rivalries in the CONCACAF, Canada’s America-born head coach Jesse Marsch had courted controversy prior to kick-off by saying: “I'm American. But I'm honoured and really proud to be the Canadian national team coach. We, as Americans, have been inundated with propaganda since we were young.

“We’re the number one country in the world, we deserve everything, we dominate everything, number one in every aspect of life. This is what we’ve been told. So, when things happen and we don’t feel like we’re in control of it, we feel like we deserve to be treated differently because we’re Americans. That is one of the things that infuriates the rest of the world about Americans. And Americans don’t know that if they don’t ever leave the country.”

The visitors took control early on, with LAFC winger Jacob Shaffelburg twice testing Brian Schwake in the home goal. However, it was the United States who struck first, opening the scoring just ahead of the half-hour mark in the clash, when neat build-up play between Alex Freeman and former Rangers playmaker Malik Tillman allowed the former to cross for teenage hitman Justin Ellis to tap home. The 19-year-old, who scored on his debut in the 4-1 win over Peru on September 26, now has two goals in his first three games.

Despite Canada hitting the bar through Luc de Fougerolles in the second period, Pochettino’s men hung up for a fourth consecutive victory, and the Argentinian boss was delighted with his sides progress over the international break, saying: “The future with this talented young talented players plus the senior players that we have, I think we have a very good mix and I hope that we can guide this group of players to reach our best level and compete in our best way.

“They deserve the credit. Not talking only about the result, it's talking about the way we competed, and the way we made that journey together. I think it was amazing and that is a starting point to keep going with the basis and the principle that we were talking about, to develop and evolve in this way. So happy, so grateful to the players and to the whole staff. We played four games in two weeks and to play always with the same intensity, with the same commitment, with the same passion. That is a thing that we keep."

Playing 74 minutes before being replaced by Neil Pierre, Trusty ended the game with an 86 per cent passing success rate, won all of his aerial duels and made seven clearances during the clash. He will now return to Glasgow as Celtic look to get back to winning ways against Motherwell on Sunday.