Connor and Die Kiezkicker: The education of a Socceroo mainstay
Connor Metcalfe has become one of the Socceroos' most regular faces, an emergence he credits to an education from the fields of the 2. Bundesliga and the terraces above it.
German football culture is unique. Week in and week out at stadiums around the country, walls of colour, limbs, and noise greet players as they step out onto the field, reflective of the individual spirit, identities, and values that each club represents as avatars of their community. This stretches well beyond the top tier, as well, with figures from earlier this declaring the 2. Bundesliga to be the fifth-most attended league across Europe, trailing only the Bundesliga itself, the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A.
In February of this year, the 2. Bundesliga for the first time saw more fans walk through its gates than the Bundesliga – Kicker reporting that 284,643 spectators attended second-division fixtures on matchday 22 of the campaign compared to the 261,099 that made their way to top-flight games. Admittedly, the likes of Schalke 04 and Hertha Berlin were at home in the former league that weekend and giants such as Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich were away, but it was still a remarkable example of the strength of the German pyramid.
In front of a sellout of 29.546 fans, league-leaders St Pauli downed Eintracht Braunschweig on that weekend, thanks to Oladapo Afolayan’s 32nd-minute strike. Australian midfielder Connor Metcalfe, meanwhile, came off the bench in the 69th minute, doing enough across his cameo to earn starts in Die Kiezkicker’s next four fixtures, which featured a goal and assist against Holstein Kiel.
Flash forward to the now, and he’s making his way off the makeshift football pitch the Socceroos have constructed to serve as their Sydney training base during this international window at the NSWNRL headquarters in Homebush. Cap on and rather impressive moustache out in all its glory, he’s just completed a recovery session after playing 90 minutes in his side’s 2-0 win over Lebanon the night prior, most of the starting XI either milling about as they conduct their media requirements or making their way inside for further treatment and gym work as the players that didn’t play extended minutes the night prior are put through their paces by Graham Arnold and assistant René Meulensteen.
“[The 2.Bundesliga is] tough,” he remarks, a notable uptick in his enthusiasm levels detectable when asked about the German terraces. “It's an anyone-can-win sort of league. No matter where you are placed in the league it's tough because in those leagues, a home advantage is huge. You go away to these really hostile environments where they're not very nice to you. I'll put it that way.
“It's amazing. It's just amazing. I went up to see the boys in Scotland and I watched their game and even there, it was just a completely different fan culture. In Germany, they just sing the whole time, flares, boo. They're loud. It's incredible. It's unbelievable.
“You play in the A-League and you don't get any of that. So when you first go over, maybe your first couple of minutes you're nervous because 30,000 people are watching and they're out for blood.
“So it adds that extra bit of pressure when you play but it's not that pressure to be afraid of, it's to embrace. Once you get used to it, you sort of use it to your advantage in a way, as a team. So now I love it.”
Metcalfe has experienced something of a rapid rise in recent times. After missing out on selection for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the 24-year-old has been included in every squad that Arnold picked. Playing a variety of positions across the midfield and even the attack, mirroring his usage in Hamburg, he’s started 11 of the 15 games the Socceroos have played during this period
Illustrative of his growing role, just three players have played every minute of every game during Australia’s opening three World Cup qualifiers. The first, no surprise, is goalkeeper and skipper Maty Ryan. The second, also not surprisingly, is defensive anchor Harry Souttar. The other is Metcalfe.
Reflecting on what has spurred his surge in national team considerations, he puts a lot of it down to his increased exposure to intense, high-quality football in Germany. Not only are there the mental aspects born of playing in front of zealously raucous fanbases each week but Metcalfe has already made 57 appearances across the league and cup in less than two seasons at St Pauli, already closing in on the 82 he logged across the four at Melbourne City.
“I just put it down to game time in Europe,” he said of his rise. “I'm playing a lot more, I'm playing out of position so I've got to adapt to that. And being able to adapt to a different position means I'll learn other skills. You know what I mean? I've had a whole new skill set, other than just sticking to one position, like at City, I was playing one position the whole time. I think it’s being fit, training regularly and playing regularly.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given his regular football at club and international level, and with St Pauli five points clear heading into the international break and on track for promotion to the Bundesliga, there’s a level of confidence that Metcalfe carries these days. He belongs at this level and it’s something that, not in an arrogant manner, he knows. This extends to the Socceroos, as well, with those regularly bestowed upon him by Arnold bestowing him with a sense of conviction that his position in the XI isn’t so much one that needs to be seized but, instead, defended with a sense of desperation.
“It's mine to keep, it's mine to lose,” he said. “Each game I've got to perform. If I don't then I know there are boys on the bench or elsewhere playing regularly and playing well that are sniffing and want to play. So for me, it's just doing as much as I can on the pitch to impress Arnie and hopefully help the team.”
With Riley McGree and Jordan Bos injured and not set to play against Lebanon in the two sides’ return fixture this Tuesday in Canberra, and Keannu Baccus suspended for yellow card accumulation, Metcalfe will likely play some kind of role in the nation’s capital, even if that wasn’t originally the plan. And if he does, he’ll be seeking to help lift his side into a performance that improves on a 2-0 win that, though all but securing progression to the next round of World Cup qualifying, left something to be desired on Thursday evening.
“It's a good win. We'll take the three points, clean sheet,” he said. “But I think we can just do a lot better, to be honest. I believe that we should be dominating those types of games. We're at home and I didn't think they were too good. But again, we're just sloppy, [there was] transition and easy mistakes and just really... not great."
Header Image: Aleksandar Jason/Subway Socceroos