In 1938, Brustad was a member of Norway's World Cup team. Norway were knocked out in the first round by eventual champions Italy after extra time by a score of 2–1. Brustad scored the Norwegian goal shortly before the end of normal time, and also added a second a few minutes later, but this goal was controversially disallowed for offside. Later the same year, Brustad was named in the "Rest of Europe XI" that played England at Highbury.