Goodwin looking to swap yellow for red against Liverpool

The next best thing to playing for Liverpool is to get the chance to play against them, as far as Craig Goodwin is concerned, and if the Adelaide United star can cap that off by swapping jerseys with his Reds player of choice then he'll be over the moon.

Goodwin

Craig Goodwin is excited by the chance to face the Reds of Anfield (Getty) Source: Getty Images

Goodwin, a lifelong Liverpool fan, is thrilled by the prospect of playing against the touring Liverpool side in front of a packed crowd at Adelaide Oval on Monday night.

"I've been following Liverpool for as long as I can remember - since I was about five years old," Goodwin told The World Game.

"Myself and my cousin have always been pretty mad Liverpool supporters and I'm very excited about playing against them.”

"It's not every day you get to play against the club you support. Obviously, the best thing would be to play for them, but being able to play against them will be a great experience and I'm really looking forward to getting out."

Goodwin, 23, said he had been to see Liverpool play a couple of times in England.

"Back in about 2004, when I was in an under-13 State team, we had a tournament over there and we were able to go and see a couple of games and Liverpool played in one of those," he said.

"I saw them a couple of years ago as well, when I had a trial at Reading. Liverpool played Reading and I got to go to that game as well, so that was fantastic."

Asked whom he admires in the current squad, Goodwin replied: "I really like Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana," he said. "Coutinho as well - I guess those more attacking players.

"I'd like to get Adam Lallana's jersey, if I could. If I can get that, it would be great.”

Goodwin played in Adelaide's 2-0 loss to Manchester City in a behind-closed-doors match at Cbus Stadium on the Gold Coast on Wednesday night.

"I played 60 minutes," he said. "I came off the bench. We had a lot of rotation with the game against Liverpool coming up.

"Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany, Nasri, Navas, Clichy and Fernandinho were among the players out there for Man City, so there were about six or seven of their players who would normally start in the Premier League. It was good to have a hit-out against players like that.

"I think it's fantastic for football in Australia to be able to have these clubs come out here and for us as players and clubs to have the opportunity to play against them is a fantastic experience.

"Especially for the younger players and the players such as myself who have aspirations to play in Europe. It's good to see what the standard is like and how we compare."

Goodwin said he was happy with how he went against Manchester City.

"I thought I did really well," he said. "At no stage did I feel out of my depth and as a team we played pretty well. We had some chances to score.

"You could see that they are a step above what we were, but by no means did they completely out-play us and make us look stupid. I think we held our own, and for me, personally I was very happy with the way I went.

"I played 30 minutes at left back and the other 30 at left wing. I almost scored, which would have been nice, but the 'keeper pulled off a good save.

"It was a good test playing at left back as well, because I was up against Navas who is probably one of the quickest players in the Premier League. That was quite a test and I thought I did pretty well on him."

Goodwin said the recent increase in the number of Australian tours by overseas clubs at this time of year was particularly useful because it helped fill in the gap left by the long off-season in the A-League.

"It really gives the players that extra incentive and something to look forward to," he said. "It's about three months of pre-season preparation once we get back into it here, so it's usually so long before you get the competitive games.

"We've got the FFA Cup now, which is good as well, but these big games against touring teams give the players much more incentive to push themselves."


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4 min read
Published 17 July 2015 1:09pm
Updated 17 July 2015 4:37pm
By Greg Prichard
Source: SBS

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