One time Nigeria U20 invitee Owen Goodman has finally gotten his desire to play for Canada at senior level, despite holding a meeting with the president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Ibrahim Musa Gusua.
Goodman was handed a call up to the U20 team of Nigeria, who were preparing for the world cup in Argentina but a combination of issues meant he didn’t show up.
The Crystal Palace goalkeeper visited Nigeria after the tournament alongside his mother and gifted the Gusau a signed jersey of his club, after a meeting at the headquarters of the NFF.
However he made it clear afterwards in an interview that his dream is to play for Canada and not Nigeria or England, even though he represented the latter at youth level.
“I grew up in Canada, I was born in England, I’ve spent a lot of my life in Canada and England,” Goodman Jr. told Goalkeeper.com. “I’ve played for England at youth level but looking at it now, I feel like my dream is to play for Canada.
“I’ve never really said that to many people but I’m just waiting on a call-up from Canada. I don’t know when it will come, but I’m hoping it will come soon. But that’s my dream, to play for Canada”, he said last year.
His father also backed his decision explaining that they are waiting for his citizenship to be approved by the Canadian authorities.
“He tells me he feels more Canadian than Nigerian,” his father, Phil, told The Athletic. “His preference is Canada, but the only way that can happen is if he gets his citizenship. That is through the Canadian Soccer Association, but we may see if we can do it off our own back because he wants to become a citizen anyway and it gives him a better chance of a call-up”.
Last month, the 21-year-old goalkeeper received an email from his immigration lawyer in Toronto, asking if he could jump on a Zoom call. Goodman, who was born in England but lived in Alliston, Ont., for eight years as a child, assumed that it was just another update in his arduous quest for citizenship.
“When you’re waiting so long, so long, you start to lose a bit of hope,” he said. “That’s kind of where I was at.”
But the call, it turned out, was the one he’d been waiting for: His childhood residency made him Canadian in the eyes of the government as well as his own. He is in Toronto this week for his first senior international window with the national team, which will include Thursday’s friendly against Ecuador at BMO Field.
That dream came to alive when he made the bench for Canada in a 0-0 draw against Ecuador in an international friendly game. Although he didn’t get to play in the game.
On loan to English League One side Huddersfield United, he has so far played in ten games this season with eight coming in the league and two in Cup games.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
