Craig Goodwin is days from fulfilling his World Cup dream but the Adelaide United skipper will not fear injury and hold anything back against Melbourne Victory.
United host their fierce A-League Men rivals at Coopers Stadium on Friday night, three days before Goodwin is due to be in Socceroos camp.
The skilful winger has two goals and three assists to his credit this season and is likely to receive plenty of physical attention from Victory, but says he has to put any fears of injury to the back of his mind.
"You can never go into a game trying to conserve yourself for something else to come," Goodwin told AAP.
"For me, I feel a responsibility as captain as well.
"I can't go out to a game, especially against Victory - the biggest game in our calendar in front of our home fans - and pull out of a tackle or try and conserve my energy in any way.
"I won't be doing that.
"I'll be going out against Victory and giving my maximum effort and that's what I expect the national team coaches would expect of me, regardless if I'm picked or not."
Socceroos coach Graham Arnold admitted he would be nervously keeping tabs on his players' health across the final round of domestic games.
"Players have to play before we get them into camp next Monday so these next days are going to be quite stressful, sitting there and watching those players," he said.
That includes unique winger Goodwin, who has a wand of a left foot.
"When you look at Craig Goodwin, the only left-footed winger in the whole country, and he gives us something completely different as a winger," Arnold said.
"His set-piece delivery is first-class, the way he has been with us in camp ... Craig has always been a positive influence in the group.
"He gives us something different, like a David Beckham-style crosser of the ball, how he can set up those set pieces."
Goodwin hopes to head into the World Cup camp on a high with a morale-boosting win over Victory.
"We really want to make Coopers a fortress," he said.
"They (Victory) had a very good game against Newcastle so we know they're going to be a very tough opposition.
"They're very physical and they've got a lot of good players. So we know we have to be on our game.
"But at the same time, we want to take the game to them and we want them to think about the dangers that we possess and the ways that we can hurt them."
