GOAL sat down with the 25-year-old centerback to discuss his path to England, lessons learned and his national team dreams
The wildest thing about Auston Trusty's story so far is how many lucky breaks it took for him to write it. There were so many near-misses, so many sliding-doors, life-altering, last-gasp saves that prevented him from falling out of soccer altogether.
Like the one that saw a youth coach grab him on his way off the field after being told he wouldn't make the Philadelphia Union's academy team just to offer him one more shot. Or like a different coach seeing his name on the 'cut' list after his first year in that academy before manually moving it over himself, keeping Trusty's dream alive. If you believe in multiverses, there are a billion where Trusty went on to do something else, anything else. It just so happens this one is the one where the stars aligned and he gets to play in the Premier League every weekend.
There are lots of stories that led him to this point, and he wants to tell them all someday. A podcast, a book, some speech somewhere…who knows when he'll have the time to finally sit down and lay it all out. But the main gist of all of those stories is this: getting this far has been a blessing.
"When I go out to games or when days are hard, you have to know your why," Trusty tells GOAL. "I've thought about it a lot this year, but you have to know why you're doing this. One of my whys is to inspire millions of kids. If you knew my story, you'd never think I should be in this position, but I always believed in it. I always believed in myself and I backed myself."
So, as he approaches a massive few months for club and country, the 25-year-old defender is ready to bet on himself again. He's betting on himself and his club, Sheffield United, to battle their way out of the massive hole they're in and fight back against relegation. He's betting on himself to continue growing and growing until a spot on the U.S. men's national team is his. And, most of all, he's betting on himself to make the most of these chances he's been given after coming way too close to losing all of this long before it ever began.
GOAL caught up with Trusty to talk life in England, his USMNT dreams, being his own biggest critic and what he's learned along the way…
'One more step and it would have been over'
Trusty remembers the moment distinctly. He remembers where he was and how he felt the moment his soccer career was saved.
He was a teenager at the time, trying out for the Philadelphia Union Academy. He had already been informed that he wouldn't be selected for the team, but there was one more training session to attend. Might as well go, right? There was no real reason to participate, but that whole experience was a good time, so why not?
Trusty went, trained well, and then began to pack his things. Time was up on this dream, and probably soccer as whole. He could go on to play basketball or maybe football. He enjoyed both of those, too. Soccer probably wasn't going to work out.
"As I'm walking out, it was like a movie," he tells GOAL. "The coach grabs me by the shoulder and I turn around and he asks me if I want to come back to tryouts tomorrow. I had goosebumps. I remember that feeling of being like 'What?!' It felt like God's way of telling me that maybe I was meant for this because if I literally walked one more step out of that door, I would have never played soccer [at a high level again]. It would have been over. One more step."
Trusty went on to make the team. "Butterflies", he recalled, when he found out. But those butterflies didn't hang around for long. That next season, he hardly played and, at the end of the campaign, he was placed on the cut list, only to be saved by one more close call. He'd already seen the list but, later on, a coach, seeing that list for the first time, saw the name Trusty and demanded that it moved to 'keep'. The rest is history.
All these years later, Trusty is now in the Premier League, far away from those training fields in Pennsylvania. He's one of the most successful exports of that Union academy and now plays against some of the best players in the world every week.
Those experiences, though, defined him and continue to define him. Trusty knows how easily it could have been taken away, and how quickly things can change for better or worse.
"Everyone's path is different," he says. "I could have easily been picked for that team from the start and been super cocky, thought I was the man, stopped working and then, next thing you know, I don't even make it to college. Everyone's pathway is different."
AdvertisementGettyLife in the Premier League
It's now been a few years since those academy days, and the road has been winding, to say the least.
The Union shipped him out to Colorado after just two seasons, most of which he spent as an unquestioned starter. After one non-Covid-shortened season, he signed with Arsenal, the Rapids' sister club. He spent the 2022-23 season on loan with Birmingham City, winning the club's Player of the Year honors while endearing himself to the club's fans in a way he never could have fathomed.
"My first game in England," Trusty recalls, "I made one challenge and the fans were chanting 'USA!' When they did that for me, I had goosebumps because I just never thought that could happen. That was my dream: coming to England or Europe and playing and showing myself and my ability. I knew I'd be checking that box off, but then having them actually back me and believe in me and chant for me, I never thought when I was coming here that English fans would be chanting 'USA' to me playing football here.
"That chant went on that entire year and they kept going. If someone brings up Birmingham, I genuinely do smile because that's such a warm place for me because it's it was just the perfect place for me to be at that time."
Fresh off that standout campaign for Birmingham, Trusty was signed by newly-promoted Sheffield United, giving him the chance to achieve his Premier League dream. It's been a tough season for the Blades, who sit last in the Premier League with 11 points between them and safety with just 12 matches remaining.
For Trusty, it took him a little while to feel he belonged. He's played 20 games so far this season in the league with two further appearances in cup competitions. The defender is now feeling comfortable, though, as he now understands that he's faced the toughest challenges that this sport has to offer in England's top flight.
"When you're playing these teams," he begins, "I'm a defender, so I look and see they have this guy and this guy in a front three and they're all insane. Then, who's on the bench that comes in? Well, there are two more of them that are insane, too. At the same time as a defender like myself, it's such a confidence builder because I know that I can lock these guys down. I know that I can do it. You back yourself even more because these are the best guys, and, at times, I'm locking all of them down. I'm doing this, doing that and it makes you think 'Where am I in that mix?!'
"When you go full circle, you look back and say that I'm worried about that, but also they're worried about me and what my attributes are and what I'm doing and they're studying me and everything I do, too! It's pretty cool to know that you're in the mix and that people have to scout you and have to worry about you and your attributes and different kinds of stuff. That's kind of a change in mindset for me and where I'm at with it."
USMNT hopes
With a large chunk of Premier League experience under his belt, Trusty is hoping to bring that experience into the USMNT as part of a big 2024.
The Nations League is coming up in March. Trusty was a part of last year's Nations League-winning team, earning his first start in a group stage win over Grenada before coming on as a substitute in the win over Canada in the final.
Thus far, those are his only two senior caps, but he's hoping that his time as a starter in the Premier League can help him break into a crowded centerback picture that also includes Tim Ream, Miles Robinson, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Chris Richards and plenty of others. The Copa America is looming, as are the Olympics, and Trusty believes he can earn a chance to be a part of a big year for U.S. Soccer.
"I think you're always thinking about it, no matter who you are," Trusty says. "You have to be prepared for it by performing well for your club team. You can't come into it with a mindset of like 'Oh, I should be with the national team and stuff,' because the thing is you can't go to the national team without performing. You have to focus on the main thing, which is your club team and performing there and then the rest takes care of itself. That's why you hear a lot of guys say 'Oh, I'm not thinking about the national team' because you almost can't allow yourself to think about it because it takes away from the number one thing you're doing."
Trusty says there hasn't been much communication with the USMNT in recent weeks or months, but he isn't too worried about that. His way back into the USMNT picture is through his play on the field. If he can take care of that, everything else will be just fine.
"One of the biggest and best advice I've ever gotten from a coach was that I only can control what I can control," he says. "When I was younger, I used to get really tied up and think about the national team and dive in deeper like 'why did they do this and do that?', but at the end of the day, I can't control people's decisions and I can't control people's actions. I'm just going to control mine and that's me advancing my career by doing my thing and just doing me.
"You've seen that since I started in Philadelphia, in Colorado, then moved to Arsenal and went to Birmingham now playing in the Premier League with Sheffield United. I've just focused on myself and controlled what I can control and, other than that, I can't do anything else. I can't control [the USMNT selections], but of course, I want to be there and in the mix."
He adds: "I can only control what I can control. Whether that's Nations League, Copa America, Olympics… whatever it takes. Whatever God puts in my path, I'll take advantage of it but I want it all. I want to be involved in all of that."
GettyA USMNT that grew up together
It's funny to look back at it now, simply because it's absurd how it all turned out.
In 2015, Trusty was a member of the U.S. U-17 men's national team that went to that year's U-17 World Cup. The key aim of any youth team is to produce a few regulars, a few players that can contribute to the senior team someday.
However, saying this team has had an impact on USMNT history would be an understatement…
Trusty was joined by Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams, Luca de la Torre, Haji Wright, Brandon Vazquez and Alejandro Zendejas…all of whom have gone on to play big roles for the USMNT. In total, 10 of the 21 players in that squad went on to earn a USMNT cap with four of those 10 making it to this most recent World Cup in Qatar.
"When I was younger, I never thought, first of all, I'd be in the mix, but also guys who I grew up with would still be here doing their thing. The levels I've gotten to, the levels that they've gotten to in their careers, it's just really cool thinking about what we have done. We were all friends and now we're all living the dream together at the same time. It just makes you feel proud of yourself but also proud of them and proud of where the U.S. has gotten you now, and where we're still getting to."
Making the journey all the more interesting is the fact that they've all taken different paths. Pulisic, of course, had the rocket strapped to him instantly, becoming a household name after breaking through at Borussia Dortmund. Adams followed soon after, but it wasn't that fast for everyone.
Someone like Vazquez, for example, had to grind it out for years before having a real breakout season in MLS. Zendejas spent some time with Mexico before coming back to U.S. Soccer. Trusty, meanwhile, is still pushing to really break through and become a more regular member of the team.
"The mindset behind all that is that everyone has their own pathway," Trusty says. "When we were all younger, including Christian, he was getting all of the articles written about him and that was his pathway. That was his time and that was his moment, and he's continuing to do his thing and it's still his moment right now, which is amazing. Everyone throughout the journey, myself, Tyler, everyone in that mix who's still playing now and doing their thing, everyone's had different journeys.
"Looking back now to see how everyone's pathway has played out, it's been like really cool because there's no one strategic plan that you can do to get from point A to point B."