{"id":493228,"date":"2026-06-15T02:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T02:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/493228\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T02:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T02:56:08","slug":"no-sleep-until-5am-socceroos-focus-turns-to-recovery-after-tiring-world-cup-travel-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/493228\/","title":{"rendered":"No sleep until 5am: Socceroos\u2019 focus turns to recovery after tiring World Cup travel | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Socceroos goalscorer Connor Metcalfe admitted he hadn\u2019t had the greatest sleep since Australia\u2019s opening World Cup<\/a> victory over Turkey.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy to score, to get the win. I mean, you couldn\u2019t ask for a better start, could you?\u201d he said, speaking back at the team\u2019s training base in Oakland barely 22 hours after the historic scenes in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of messages I\u2019ve received, the fact that my family, my loved ones, could be there was super special, so [it is] a memory I\u2019ll never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

The day after their victory, Socceroos players were still recovering, physically and emotionally, from an arduous evening and a full night of travel.<\/p>\n

The Socceroos bussed out of BC Place after midnight, straight to Vancouver airport for their flight back to Oakland after 2am. They did not get back to their rooms to sleep until 5am.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game was pretty late in general and usually after games I struggle to sleep,\u201d said Metcalfe. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty unusual to fly straight back, especially being so late, but it\u2019s probably better to get back as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Socceroos already have one eye on the mouthwatering clash against tournament co-hosts the United States on Friday in Seattle (Saturday AEST). But for now, the focus is on recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201c[I had] about four or five hours of sleep, I\u2019m just pretty knackered to be honest, I need a good day off tomorrow and then get back into it,\u201d Metcalfe said.<\/p>\n

His 75th-minute strike secured arguably the Socceroos\u2019 greatest World Cup victory, against an opponent many had described as dark horses before the tournament.<\/p>\n

Cameron Burgess was a rock in the Socceroos defence against Turkey. Photograph: Emma Peterson\/AP<\/p>\n

They did so with a starting line-up with an average age of 24. Defender Cam Burgess, at 30, was the oldest, after he was preferred to Lucas Herrington on the left side of the central defenders.<\/p>\n

Behind him was 22-year-old Patrick Beach in goal. Jordy Bos, 23, was to his left, Paul Okon-Engstler, 21, played ahead of him in midfield and 20-year-old Nestory Irankunda, who scored the opener, was on the left wing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing they really need to lean on me for,\u201d Burgess said. \u201cObviously I might have to do that and I believe that\u2019s a big part of my role in the team, to be the experienced one and to calm things down at times and just be a voice as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut those guys are on a good trajectory in their careers, and I think they showed last night what they can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

At training on Sunday afternoon in Oakland (Monday morning AEST), Aiden O\u2019Neill walked around the ground, as the starters ran light laps. He was described as \u201ca little bit sore\u201d by Metcalfe. The remainder of the squad played small sides games.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill and Metcalfe were the only players \u2013 apart from the central defenders and Beach \u2013 who were not substituted.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably the last 15 minutes, I was looking over at the bench waiting for a sub, but I stuck out there and just had to dig deep,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Recovery for the Socceroos this week will also be mental, but Burgess believes the group is sufficiently grounded to not get ahead of themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s, I guess, the Aussie way, and it\u2019s just instilled in us to take it one game at a time and enjoy the moment with your friends and family and teammates and just focus on the next [game] and work hard and go again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burgess was born in Scotland but spent his teens in Perth. He represented the country of his birth at junior levels, before committing to Australia<\/a> in 2014.<\/p>\n

Alongside Harry Souttar \u2013 another Aberdeen-born Socceroo \u2013 Burgess watched Scotland\u2019s first-up victory over Haiti<\/a>, their first win at a World Cup in 36 years. Souttar\u2019s brother John was on the bench for Scotland.<\/p>\n

Despite the emotion around Scotland\u2019s World Cup return, Burgess said he had no regrets about committing to Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m more than happy where I\u2019m at right now,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat\u2019s just gone on in the last 24 hours has been some of the best moments of my career so far and I just can\u2019t wait to hopefully go out there and do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Socceroos goalscorer Connor Metcalfe admitted he hadn\u2019t had the greatest sleep since Australia\u2019s opening World Cup victory over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-493228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}