🤯 Fresh from Bundesliga relegation, second-tier player now national hero | OneFootball

How closely joy and sorrow in football can sometimes lie side by side is shown by the last few months in Connor Metcalfe’s career. He spent a total of 576 minutes on the pitch for FC St. Pauli in this Bundesliga season and fought until the very end to avoid relegation. In the end, it was all in vain. After 34 matchdays, the Hamburg side were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga in last place. Right in the middle of it all: Connor Metcalfe.

And today, the 26-year-old was right in the thick of it again, this time on a far more joyful occasion. Australia somewhat surprisingly won their opening match against Turkey. The midfielder played a major part in helping the Socceroos secure these three points against the technically strong Turkish side.

After his teammate Irankunda had given them the lead (27’) and following a huge amount of uncompromising defensive work, Metcalfe delivered the knockout blow to Turkey fifteen minutes before the end of regular time. After a turnover, the St. Pauli player won the ball, drove straight toward the penalty area, and struck it left-footed from around 19 meters out. His powerful shot flew into the bottom-right corner of the net, making it 2–0 and sending the Australians into ecstasy.

It was his first goal at a World Cup. 

So, not long ago he was shedding a tear or two and suffering relegation with his club, and now he’s scored the decisive winning goal in his nation’s first World Cup group match — not bad at all!

What do you think: will Metcalfe and Jackson Irvine — his colleague, also under contract at St. Pauli — stay in Hamburg, or will they use the World Cup to put themselves forward for bigger challenges next?

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

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