USA coach Gregg Berhalter has revealed Cameron Carter-Vickers' start for his country at the World Cup came after careful consideration of his Celtic displays.
The centre-back was brought into the starting line-up for the crucial final group match against Iran with USA needing a win to progress.
Berhalter dropped Walker Zimmerman to bring Carter-Vickers into the starting XI for the match - and a huge part of the reasoning came down to Celtic.
The US coach explained that Carter-Vickers was preferred - despite a clean sheet in the previous match against England - because of his experience "defending space behind" and "building up against a compact defence".
And the decision proved to be justified with Carter-Vickers impressing in the USA backline as the country grabbed a 1-0 to qualify for the knockout stages.
"It is difficult after getting a shutout against England to take Walker out, and it was a difficult conversation with Walker," said Berhalter of his defensive decision.
"And then the rationale was that Cam does this. We expected Iran to be in a low block and Cam does this every single week with Celtic.
"We thought that was just a very logical decision. He’s used to defending space behind, he’s also used to building up against a compact defence.
"So to me, that was a good fit and he played really well. You see how resilient this group is, you see how unified this group is, you see what type of energy and output they put into every single game, and then along the way there’s some pretty good soccer."
And the decision proved to be justified with Carter-Vickers impressing in the USA backline as the country grabbed a 1-0 to qualify for the knockout stages.
Carter-Vickers and Co will now face off against the Netherlands in the round of 16 after Louis van Gaal's men topped group A with two wins and a draw.
The Netherlands beat both Qatar and Senegal in the group with a draw against Ecuador contributing to a seven-point total.
It means former Celtic stars Virgil van Dijk and Jeremie Frimpong could face current Parkhead favourite Carter-Vickers in the last 16 clash on Saturday.
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