It was an eventful night for some of Celtic's World Cup contingent, as two players scored for their respective nations on a jam-packed Thursday.
The club has a total of eight representatives at this year's tournament, though this looks set to decrease, with both Scotland and South Korea in precarious positions regarding third-place qualification, as well as Tunisia's elimination.
Despite this, it was an eye-catching evening for Daizen Maeda and Auston Trusty, with both getting on the scoresheet for Japan and the USA, respectively.
What a goal to take the lead 😱 Daizen Maeda FINALLY found the edge for Japan to go ahead in the second half pic.twitter.com/qqBH6GS3u1
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 26, 2026
Firstly, Japan took on Sweden, with a potential Celtic face-off between Maeda and his club teammate, Benjamin Nygren. The former started, while the latter came off the bench in the second half, though it was Maeda who made the bigger impact on proceedings.
Scoring his sixth goal for his country, the versatile Japanese forward finished off a well-worked goal, with him and Eintracht Frankfurt's Ritsu Doan linking up well to put Hajime Moriyasu's side in front.
Unfortunately for him, it was not to be a winning goal, as Nottingham Forest's Anthony Elanga equalised after the restart to draw the game.
Thrashed in by Auston Trusty 😤 The USA are off to a flyer in Los Angeles! pic.twitter.com/czjuBNeaBz
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 26, 2026
As for Trusty, the American started for Mauricio Pochettino's much-changed USA side, making an immediate impact by scoring against Turkey in the third minute.
After creeping in at the back-post via a corner, the centre-back took a touch before side-footing the ball into the back of Ugurcan Cakir's net.
His efforts would end up being in vain, however, as Turkey scored a 98th-minute winner, with the Celtic defender having to be stretchered off in the final moments due to an ankle injury.
He alleviated fears post-match, however, saying he would be available for his country's last-32 match against Bosnia & Herzegovina next week.
