‘Just as I imagined it in my head’: Goodwin claws Socceroos back from the brink

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. The spiritual mayor of Adelaide. The saviour of the Socceroos. In their hour of need, Craig Goodwin delivered, just like he usually does.

The road to the 2026 World Cup remains a treacherous one for Australia, but at least it remains open to them. For 27 torturous minutes on Thursday night, their hopes and dreams teetered on the edge of catastrophe – until Goodwin intervened and dragged his nation back to safety.

Goodwin has a fair claim as Australia’s most under-appreciated sporting talent. Rusted-on football fans know how good he is, and especially those in his native South Australia – but because he has never played for a club in one of Europe’s top five leagues, he is not regarded as a star by everyone else, even though he has scored at a World Cup and won a Johnny Warren Medal.

But a star is exactly what he is, and not for the first time, the Socceroos were left to wonder where they’d be without him after their 3-1 victory.

They needed to win this match against China – the first under new coach Tony Popovic – to remain a realistic hope of World Cup qualification. It started reasonably well, with Popovic’s new 3-4-2-1 system triggering new and exciting passages of play in the final third. That was for about 15 minutes. Nerves were evident, a touch of hesitation and a bit of miscommunication leading to a couple of sloppy errors, and then an outright catastrophe at the back opened the door for Wenneng Xie to put China 1-0 up in the 20th minute.

“Going down in this game, especially after the first two results that we’ve had, it could have been very easy for us to go into our shell,” Goodwin said, referring to a calamitous 1-0 loss to Bahrain and a subsequent nil-all draw with Indonesia.

Man of the moment: Craig Goodwin.Credit: Getty Images

“But we showed great character in playing the way that we did and sticking to the structure. To do it in Adelaide and the way that we did is ... yeah, just as I imagined it in my head.”

Goodwin was the glue that put the Socceroos back together. Playing as an inverted winger on the right – the same role he plays for his Saudi Arabian club Al-Wehda – he was the conduit through which most of Australia’s early attacks came, and his trusty left foot eventually came to the rescue.

First, he provided the assist from the free kick that was headed home in the second minute of first-half stoppage time by Lewis Miller, who handed a surprise start by Popovic for his first minutes since a nightmare performance in the Asian Cup quarter-final against South Korea.

The Socceroos celebrate their third goal.Credit: Getty Images

And then, eight minutes after half-time, Jackson Irvine spotted Goodwin in acres of space and delivered a crisp, measured pass. Galloping towards the famous scoreboard at Adelaide Oval’s cathedral end, Goodwin let rip from long distance. He does that. The ball nestled beautifully into the back of the net, the Socceroos were 2-1 up, the crowd of 46,291 exploded with joy, and all was right with the world again.

Goodwin wheeled away with his trademark celebration, pointing two fingers to the sky in a tribute to his late grandmother. There are several statues scattered around the perimeter of Adelaide Oval, honouring local sporting greats like Sir Donald Bradman, Barrie Robran and Malcolm Blight. Having also won an A-League grand final there, Goodwin deserves one, too, and that celebration should be the pose. This was his game in more ways than one; he had been one of the loudest advocates for bringing the Socceroos to Adelaide for the first time since 2017, and he made the occasion his. At the end of it, he was calling for an encore.

He was one of four local lads handed a start. Teenage sensation Nestory Irankunda operated in the other wing role, but had a far less productive evening than Goodwin, and was withdrawn at half-time, but the structure Popovic unveiled blossomed in the second half with different personnel and helped foster the quicker, more dynamic play he has been promising.

“I feel there are a lot of creative players in the squad and in those pockets, those half spaces, I feel we have a lot of good ability,” Popovic said. “We turn on the ball quickly, we can combine quickly and it’s just trying to work out in which position each player is better suited, but they’re versatile.”

Thomas Deng was also taken off at the break, having lost the aerial duel – from a route-one bomb up the middle of the field from China’s goalkeeper Wang Dalei – that led to the opening goal. And the goalkeeper who watched on in horror was another Adelaidean, Joe Gauci, who was given the gloves over usual skipper and long-time custodian Maty Ryan. Neither is playing regularly at club level, but few expected Popovic to pull that rein.

“It was just a choice that I made,” Popovic said. “I wanted to give Joey an opportunity.”

He gave another one to his former Melbourne Victory charge Nishan Velupillay, who enjoyed what Popovic described as a “dream debut” off the bench, scoring the clincher in the 92nd minute. Job done, crisis averted, and attention can now shift to Tuesday night’s daunting clash with Japan, the Group C pacesetters.

Popovic was pleased with not only the result, but the performance and the fortitude it required. Five minutes after China’s goal, as his players stuck to his plan despite the sense of impending doom ricocheting around the stadium, he knew they were fine.

“That can always be a nervy period, where you start forcing the action, and there’s an opportunity to concede another goal. But they looked really composed and just kept playing,” he said.

“I’m really happy. That was a good sign for us. Then of course the goal helps just before halftime. Then I thought in the second half we improved in the middle and front third with the ball. It gave us a lot more opportunities to score.

“There wasn’t much wrong with today. It wasn’t a bad performance at all.”

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