{"id":718504,"date":"2026-06-06T06:55:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T06:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/718504\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T06:55:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T06:55:14","slug":"midfielder-connor-metcalfe-sick-of-socceroos-commentary-ahead-of-fifa-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/718504\/","title":{"rendered":"Midfielder Connor Metcalfe ‘sick of’ Socceroos commentary ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Socceroos midfielder Connor Metcalfe says he is tired of the United States’ media labelling Australia as easy beats ahead of the FIFA World Cup, starting next week.<\/p>\n

Former USA men’s player Alexi Lalas was the most recent, saying Australia was “an average team by any measure”.<\/p>\n

“I’ve seen all the US stuff and I’m just sick of it, to be honest,” Metcalfe said as the Socceroos prepare for a friendly against Switzerland in San Diego.<\/p>\n

“Let’s just wait for the game. Whatever happens, happens.<\/p>\n

“It’s just so much rubbish, honestly. I’m just sick of it.”<\/p>\n

Stay across the latest news, analysis and features from the 2026 FIFA World Cup here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lalas comments follow others by former players, including striker Landon Donovan, who labelled Australia coach Tony Popovic as “smug”<\/a> and tipped the Socceroos to finish last in their group.<\/p>\n

Australia is finalising its preparations for the World Cup with a midday game against the Swiss, which the squad will use to prepare for its 12pm game against the USA later in the tournament.<\/p>\n

\"Side<\/p>\n

Australia coach Tony Popovic is using the friendly against Switzerland as a dress rehearsal for his side’s match against the US later in the World Cup. (ABC: Tom Wildie)<\/p>\n

“It’s actually a good dress rehearsal for us, with travelling, with food, with training, with our meetings,” Popovic said.<\/p>\n

Giving minutes to the squad<\/p>\n

Popovic confirmed Cristian Volpato would play his first minutes for Australia after his shock defection from Italy<\/a> just days before the World Cup squad was named.<\/p>\n

The Sassuolo winger did not feature in the Socceroos one-nil loss to Mexico last week, and has been building fitness.<\/p>\n

\"Cristian<\/p>\n

Cristian Volpato (left) will make his Socceroos debut against Switzerland in San Diego, a week after his shock switch to Australia. (Getty Images: Luca Amedeo Bizzarri)<\/p>\n

“He hasn’t played a lot of football and he had eight to nine days off before he joined us,” Popovic said.<\/p>\n

“Comparing [him] to the group, he’s probably at the bottom in terms of his conditioning right now.<\/p>\n

“He’s working hard, he’s trying to get up to speed and we’ve seen some good inroads in the last couple of days.”<\/p>\n

Volpato’s addition to the Socceroos squad was criticised in some circles, with many fans pointing to social media post he made when Australia lost to Japan.<\/p>\n

But Metcalfe said there were no issues in the squad.<\/p>\n

“It’s been pretty smooth sailing. I mean, he’s come in, he’s a really nice, relaxed guy,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We see it online and we know the past and what’s been done, but we’re not here to talk about that.<\/p>\n

“Whatever’s said is done, so it’s fine.”<\/p>\n

Switzerland star allowed to travel<\/p>\n

Switzerland’s preparations for the World Cup have not been smooth, with striker Breel Embolo prevented from travelling with the squad due to a visa issue.<\/p>\n

US officials informed Embolo he could not fly with his teammates hours before take-off, with his ESTA \u2014 an automated travel visa issued for tourism \u2014 rejected due to a criminal conviction.<\/p>\n

Embolo was convicted in 2023 for make threats, and failed in his appeal, making that judgment final.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Striker Breel Embolo will be allowed to travel to the United States after having his visa approved. (Photo by Harry Langer\/DeFodi Images\/DeFodi via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The striker met with US officials during the week, and was approved for travel.<\/p>\n

Embolo has scored 23 goals in 85 games for Switzerland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Socceroos midfielder Connor Metcalfe says he is tired of the United States’ media labelling Australia as easy beats…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,348437,276533,217534,348436,13201,16135,596,104299,86,9083,13198,42150,588,85,6221,6248,348435,45,9082,21418],"class_list":["post-718504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-breel-embolo","tag-connor-metcalfe","tag-cristian-volpato","tag-embolo","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-football","tag-metcalfe","tag-perth-news","tag-perth-sport","tag-soccer","tag-socceroos","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-switzerland","tag-tony-popovic","tag-volpato","tag-wa-news","tag-wa-sport","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}