{"id":767521,"date":"2026-06-29T09:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T09:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/767521\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T09:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T09:47:11","slug":"fifa-world-cup-2026-socceroos-to-face-egypt-at-dallas-stadium-conor-metcalfe-comments-dj-and-weird-vibe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/767521\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA World Cup 2026: Socceroos to face Egypt at Dallas Stadium, Conor Metcalfe comments, DJ and \u2018weird\u2019 vibe"},"content":{"rendered":"

OAKLAND: The Socceroos<\/a> are now in full preparation mode for Dallas Stadium, three years after last playing at the famed arena and if it\u2019s anything like last time, a \u201cweird\u201d atmosphere could follow. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to Connor Metcalfe, who played in that 2-2 friendly draw against Mexico in September 2023. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A general view of Dallas Stadium during the Argentina and Austria clash.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Metcalfe is a chance to start again in Dallas, although predicting Tony Popovic<\/a>\u2019s lineup is becoming a tough task. <\/p>\n

Metcalfe scored in the first match against T\u00fcrkiye<\/a> but was benched to face USA. He returned to the starting side against Paraguay, which ended as a nil-all draw.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters from the Socceroos\u2019 Oakland base on Sunday afternoon (Monday morning AEST), Metcalfe explained why it could get weird in Dallas if the last match is anything to go by. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing stadium, it was a bit of weird one, I remember for some reason they had a DJ playing during our game,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why but every time Maty Ryan got the ball they would start playing a song, which was a bit weird.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s an amazing stadium and the facilities are incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The current DJ at Dallas Stadium – home of the NFL\u2019s iconic Cowboys franchise – is Jesus \u201cDJ Chuy\u201d Salazar, while NBA legend Shaquille O\u2019Neal has previousy played too during a college football playoff quarter-final between Miami Hurricanes and Ohio State Buckeyes last December.<\/p>\n

The beat the Socceroos play to could be different to the one against Paraguay in the final group stage match<\/a> with both teams appearing happy to settle for a draw. <\/p>\n

Mo Salah<\/a> – who is currently under an injury cloud – will lead Egypt\u2019s search for victory<\/a> and is sure to present a different challenge to the South Americans.<\/p>\n

Metcalfe explained that the Socceroos\u2019 opponent hasn\u2019t been discussed yet with the focus on recovery. <\/p>\n

However, he did admit Egypt\u2019s style of play could play into his side\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could suit us, the way we set up. We\u2019re pretty good off the counter, so we could shock them a little bit,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t gone into that much detail, we\u2019ve only seen a glimpse of the Iran game at the end and that was just chaotic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Metcalfe also agreed there\u2019s a sense of revenge for him personally after he was part of Australia\u2019s under 23s side that lost to Egypt in the 2021 Olympics.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Conor Metcalfe against Paraguay.\u00a0Matthew Huang<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were quite a big, physical team. I remember it being really humid and hot (in Japan) and we didn\u2019t play our best game and they ruined our dream,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Metcalfe himself has welcomed playing minutes for the Socceroos after a season that was interrupted by injury at St. Pauli. <\/p>\n

A knee issue ruled him out for eight matches but the lack of starting time was the real problem for Metcalfe who constantly played off the bench. <\/p>\n

The midfielder admitted there was some \u201cinner anger\u201d bubbling away at him in clubland. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been nice, it\u2019s the biggest stage of the world. It has been a release of build up I\u2019ve been feeling in the season and being able to let it out on the pitch and enjoy the moment and not really be nervous and get on with it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s really helped me to be honest, there\u2019s been a lot of inner anger from the season so it\u2019s probably benefited me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND: The Socceroos are now in full preparation mode for Dallas Stadium, three years after last playing at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":767522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-767521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767521","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=767521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/767522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}