These days, he’s returned to Adelaide United, back home as the beating heart of the Red Army in the new A-League Men season. And watching him ping balls in from the left at Hindmarsh Stadium undoubtedly carries a level of cosmic appropriateness.
But Craig Goodwin is part of another club too, one of the most exclusive in all of Australian football, in fact. It’s such an elite group that it’s only got nine members; the South Australian adding himself at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, when he netted against France and, in doing so, became part of a select group that have scored for Australia’s men on football’s grandest stage.
It’s a moment that every kid dreams of growing up in the backyard – the type of moment that Goodwin dreamed of too when he was kicking the ball around growing up in Adelaide. But as he sets his sights on earning a place at another World Cup, knowing full well that next year’s tournament in North America almost certainly represents his last opportunity to do so, it’s not necessarily these career-defining crescendos that have put him in this position. Instead, as he reflected in Houston, intermittently checking his phone to make sure he’s not running late for a rapidly approaching team meeting ahead of the CommBank Socceroos clash with Venezuela this weekend, those stages serve as the rewards for the perseverance to get there.
For years before he became a member of one of the Socceroos’ most select clubs, Goodwin was more worried about landing with any kind of club at all: missing out on gigs with Crystal Palace and Inverness after trialling as a junior before then failing to stick with the youth sides of Adelaide. He toiled in the NPLM Victoria with the Oakleigh Cannons, working at KFC amongst other odd jobs to make ends meet, and even needed to scrape together as many coins as he could find to pay for the petrol required to make it to training when he landed his first A-League Men deal with Melbourne Heart (mum eventually sent him $100 in petrol money).
And while success, to say nothing of his wand of a left peg, refused to be denied for long and Goodwin eventually began a storied professional career, he got very used to hearing ‘no’ during this period. He became accustomed to being rejected and finding the will to keep going. And it’s these lessons, just as much as the highs of that famous moment at the Al Janoub Stadium, Goodwin feels have put him in a place to compete for a spot at another World Cup.
"With how it worked out, I'd say just keep doing what you're doing!" the Socceroo laughs when asked what advice he’d give his younger self.
"It's a tough one, because as you go, there are so many aspects to it. The biggest one is the mentality and the mental side. Which is something, probably from my experiences of having to do those things, having to move away from family, having to work different jobs like KFC, trying to make ends meet whilst trying to make it as a professional, it probably gives you that little bit more resilience.
“I've probably had more no's or rejections in my career than most players would -- although obviously every player faces it at some point -- and it's about how you respond to that.
“Obviously, when you're there [in the moment], you want to be able to reach the top, you want to play in the Premier League, you want to do all sorts of things. But I'm very happy with how my career's panned out and what I've been able to achieve. So I'd just say, keep doing what you're doing.”
After two years with Saudi side Al Wehda – navigating the unique circumstances that come with playing for a Mecca-based side as a non-Muslim – Goodwin returned for a fourth stint with Adelaide during the offseason, signing a three-year deal and declaring his intentions to bring another title and Australia Cup to the City of Churches.
Under the stewardship of new Reds boss Airton Andrioli, he’s been deployed in a more freewheeling, central role throughout the opening month of the campaign, slightly different from his normal role out on the left at Hindmarsh but perhaps carrying parallels to the inverted winger role that Tony Popovic has utilised in his time as Socceroos head coach. He’s still adjusting, but he’s also playing well – doing enough to earn a call-up for this month’s friendlies in the United States.
And while quick to qualify his statements with the acknowledgement that it can only happen if he plays consistently well throughout the season, the 33-year-old (he’ll turn 34 next month) made the move back home with one eye on the World Cup; knowing that with Father Time the only thing in football that will forever remain undefeated, to say nothing of the increasing talent emerging up front in Green and Gold, he needed to make the coming season count.
"[I know] full well that this is probably the last chance I'll get to play at a World Cup – I do have the experience of one, which I'll cherish forever; one of the absolute highs of my career," he reflected.
"It's about trying to better that and reach new heights, create more memories. That's the focus. That's the carrot at the end of the season, knowing that this is probably the last chance I'll get.
"I know that because of my age, my [time in] international camps are winding down. So I just take every camp as if it's potentially my last, and try to give everything that I can. Which is probably how I've approached any kind of international game.
"It's the one thing that's ever-present in your career and doesn't fade, in terms of the goosebumps and the excitement, the nervousness, all the energy that surrounds representing your country. And having the chance, potentially that last chance, to be able to go to the World Cup, is very exciting."
After missing the last four games of the Saudi Pro League season, Goodwin was sidelined with a neuroma, an inflamed nerve in his foot, that required surgery last June, a procedure that ruled him out of selection for the Socceroos’ qualification-sealing wins over Japan and Saudi Arabia. Not only did this prevent him from being there when the side celebrated punching their tickets to 2026 in Jeddah, but it also ate into his preseason with Adelaide.
“It was disappointing to have been involved in so much of the qualifying campaign, and then to have the injury, to not be there for the Japan and Saudi game,” he said.
“But then, at the same time, you're proud of the group and proud of what we achieved -- and being able to qualify directly and being a part of that."
And given how frank he is in confronting his footballing mortality, one would be forgiven for thinking that setbacks such as this, blows that would ostensibly damage his chances of realising his aspirations of one last World Cup, would be tough to handle; representative of the double-edged sword that using ‘one last ride’ as a source of motivation can be.
But as a player who got used to being told no and finding a way to do it anyway, he doesn’t see it that way.
"I'm someone that's -- and my wife would probably attest this -- I'm annoyingly positive,” Goodwin grins.
"Of course, there are always negatives that can happen along the road. But I don't really think about them. That's not the mindset or the vision I have when I think of these things.
"I'm the type of player who always thinks of the positive outcome and doesn't think of the negative. Of course, there's the potential for that to happen, but if I'm thinking about that and I'm putting energy into that, then it's more likely for that to happen.
"You can't be nervous. I've probably experienced enough around this level now to handle those nerves. But I've always found that when the occasion is bigger and I have the nerves and the energy that surrounds that -- I feel more confident that I'm ready for the occasion.
"I always look forward to the big occasions, because it's a chance to do something that will be the standout for your career. It's about having those big moments where you can potentially achieve what you watched your idols do growing up.
"When you're a kid, you don't think about those moments of 'I missed a penalty at the World Cup' or 'I missed that big chance at the World Cup'. In your backyard, you're picturing yourself scoring and reenacting a celebration. That's what you picture. And as I've grown, that's still what I picture."
