But the FFA Cup hero knows there's a long road still ahead of him before Graham Arnold comes knocking, despite his Messi-like shift for Adelaide United against Sydney in the FFA Cup Final last night.

"I want to be there. I want to be in that national team setup," he said today. "It's always in the back of my mind and it's always something I want to achieve.

"But I know I have to be consistent with Adelaide if I'm going to get that call up.

"I have to go out against Central Coast Mariners and put in another good display – and then do the same thing the next week as well."

Goodwin now has six goals in six games for Adelaide since returning from Sparta Rotterdam in Holland where he had fallen out of favour.

His father persuaded him to come back to the A-League and was encouraged to sign for Adelaide after chats with coach Marco Kurz, ignoring overtures from Sydney FC among others.

"It was a crucial decision for me, deciding on what was best for my career and what was best for me to get the best out of my football," he revealed.

"When I was in that difficult period in Europe, I spoke to my dad who was a big advocate of trying to get me to come back.

"He was saying that I would do really well under Marco at Adelaide and thought I could flourish, and more like, 'Take a step back to propel yourself forward'.

"Obviously being in Europe – that's the dream. You want to be there and you want to do well. I wasn't so sure about coming back to start with.

"But as time wore on and I thought about it more , it seemed like the right move for me. Thinking about it, and speaking to my agent, my family and my friends, I decided that Adelaide was the best place to do that...and so far it's working out well.

"Hopefully I can keep that going. Winning another trophy is fantastic and I do feel like I'm finding some good form."

But Goodwin had a worrying warning for rival clubs for the rest of this season – he reckons he's only going to get even better.

"There's more to come," he said. "There's more in my game to improve on.

"I scored the two last night but I still think overall my game can improve. It's still early in the season and I need to build on this and be more consistent."