Could Owen Goodman’s loan move to Dundee parlay him into a starting role for CanMNT?
The journey towards the 2030 World Cup begins in Scotland for Owen Goodman, who joined Scottish Premiership side Dundee FC on loan from Premier League outfit Crystal Palace this past week.
After cracking the CanMNT’s 2026 World Cup squad as the third goalkeeper, the 22-year-old shotstopper will now hope that in four years he can become the team’s #1, and why shouldn’t he?
A new addition between the sticks 😍
— Dundee Football Club (@DundeeFC) July 25, 2026
Welcome, Owen Goodman! pic.twitter.com/js1k2Oirw1
Given that he’ll be just entering the prime of his career at 26 years of age for that 2030 tournament, he’ll have every opportunity to pass Canada’s top two goalkeepers, Maxime Crépeau and Dayne St. Clair, who will be 36 and 33 years old at that stage.
If Goodman is to do that, though, he’ll want to begin to elevate his club performances, which will be his best way to move up the ranks on this Canadian side in the short-term.
For example, if Goodman has an excellent 2026-2027 season for Dundee, you have to imagine that he’ll earn the chance to be Canada’s starting goalkeeper at the 2027 Gold Cup, which would be a great tournament for him to get his feet wet in for Canada - and, perhaps, he might even be able to grab the reins for the Concacaf Nations League this fall and next spring if he really does well for Dundee, especially in the short-term.
Owen is heading to the World Cup 🇨🇦
— Crystal Palace F.C. Academy (@CPFCAcademy) May 30, 2026
Owen Goodman has been named in Canada’s senior men’s national team squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup! ❤️💙
Read more here 📖 https://t.co/R6aGGurtnk#CPFC pic.twitter.com/zKdmuv4nJe
While it’d be harsh for Crépeau and St. Clair to be leapfrogged by Goodman over the next few months, it’d be a reflection of the reality that this Canadian team is now dealing with now that the 2026 World Cup cycle is over - they’ve got to now start planning for the future when dealing with players like Goodman.
That’s not to mean that they have to throw youngsters like Goodman to the wolves right away, but they’ve got to do what they can to integrate them into the fold - especially if their performances merit it.
To that point, though, what should Dundee be expecting from Goodman?
THE SIT-DOWN 🎙️
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 12, 2026
Presented by Visa
CanMNT 🇨🇦 international Owen Goodman on his Canadian connection, dabbling in hockey while in Alliston, ON, and why he chose to become a goalkeeper:
"I hated running. I hated it. Like, I couldn't keep up with the team!" pic.twitter.com/DhHbu48XNx
At first glance, this is an interesting move for Goodman, who spent 2025-2026 on loan across two EFL League One clubs, as he started the year with Huddersfield Town before heading to Barnsley halfway through after minutes became hard to come by at Huddersfield.
After an excellent 2024-2025 campaign with EFL League Two side AFC Wimbledon, who he helped earn promotion to League One with a Golden Glove campaign, it was a bit of a rockier 2025-2026 for Goodman, who wasn’t able to adjust as seamlessly to League One as hoped after his League Two exploits.
Yet, that likely explains why he is heading to Scotland, and not to the EFL Championship, as some would’ve hoped he could’ve done after this last season. Given that the Championship is rated as a top 10 league in the world by OPTA, it would’ve been a big jump for Goodman to make, given his up-and-down season in League One, which is ranked 49th on those same rankings.
By comparison, Scotland’s top flight is ranked 40th in the rankings, showing that he’s still making a step up here, even if it isn’t the one that many would’ve hoped.
One can only wonder if there might’ve been a world where Goodman could’ve moved to a league ranked around the top 10 that isn’t as intense as the Championship, such as the Eredivisie or the Jupiler Pro League, but instead, he’ll head to Scotland.
To be fair, that’s not a bad thing - while the Scottish Premiership might not have the same quality as the Championship, it’s an extremely intense league, one that will place good pressure on a young player like Goodman. And, given that Goodman is joining a Dundee side that finished eighth last year, he’ll certainly be busy, which is what you want out of a goalkeeper.
Plus, when considering that he’s on loan, he controls his fate when it comes to what’s next for him. If Goodman is exceptional in the first half of the season, Crystal Palace can recall him and find another tougher loan, or even give him a chance in their first team depending on how their campaign, which is a busy one with Premier League, Europa League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup responsibilities to juggle, is going at that time.
But not to look too far ahead, it’s important to return to that earlier question - what will Goodman indeed bring to Dundee? 
While he didn’t have the season he wanted in League One, conceding 13 goals and keeping four clean sheets in 12 appearances with Huddersfield before conceding 36 goals and keeping just one clean sheet in 22 appearances for Barnsley, he still performed solidly by most metrics.
For example, he averaged 2.48 saves per 90 minutes across all competitions last year, showing that he was quite busy. That he also faced over 1.25 xG on target per game (45.89 xGOT total) also shows that - which helps explain why he conceded 49 goals. 
While the xG figures are different from WyScout's, here's FotMob's shotmap for Goodman, which gives a rough idea of the sort of attempts he faced this year. As seen above, he faced a lot of shot volume (FotMob)
Ultimately, a save percentage of 65% is not one worth ringing the alarm bells about, especially considering how busy he was.
Plus, it’s also encouraging to see that he had solid sweeping metrics, as it can’t be forgotten that those sort of numbers are important for a young goalkeeper growing into the position. To that point, he had 1.93 exits and 5.01 recoveries per 90 minutes - for context, the year prior, he had just 0.99 exits and 3.04 recoveries despite his more dominant shot-stopping metrics, showing that he did take a step forward on that side of his game this past season.
And, on the ball, he completed 79.8% of his passes, including 55.9% of his long balls in 2025-20226 - in 2024-2025, he completed 77.7% of his passes, although he did complete 65.8 % of his long balls, showing that he also showed some improvement on the ball, which is important. Ultimately, that’s key given how big ball-playing skills are to the modern goalkeeper. 
Here's Goodman's percentile chart from this past season, showing that while his shotstopping numbers were middling, he had some good sweeping metrics (WyScout)
That’s all encouraging, as it shows that while Goodman didn’t have the sort of shot-stopping season he had the year prior, he showed growth in other areas of his game. If he can take those improvements and return to the level of shot-stopping that he had for Wimbledon, that could be great news for both Dundee and Goodman going forward. 
Here's Goodman's percentile chart from his season with Wimbledon, which gives an idea of how good his shot-stopping was that season (WyScout)
What that shows, though, is that while this might not be as eye-catching a move as some were hoping for, there’s a lot for Goodman to achieve in Scotland.
At the of the day, it can’t be forgotten that Goodman still remains in a good position relative to his age. While some will have hoped that he could’ve broken through at Palace by now, it was never going to be that easy for him to do that, as his journey to a role with Palace is one that depends as much on him as it does luck and other factors.
Likely, he might not get that opportunity to even get a sniff with Palace for another few seasons, if at all, but in the meantime, all he can do is make the most of these loans, and use them to propel them to further opportunities, whether with Palace or elsewhere.
If Goodman never appears for Palace, but becomes a regular in the Championship or another league like the Eredivisie or Jupiler Pro League over the next few years, that’s not a bad thing - and his performances there could vault him back to another top five league club down the line.
But his journey to any of those levels, whether that’s the top five leagues, or a circuit just outside of it, starts with these loans, which are extremely important for young players in their formative years, as Goodman still is.
25 clean sheets. TWENTY FIVE. Owen Goodman. One of Wimbledon’s LEGENDARY goalkeepers. 🧤🏆 #AFCW 🟡🔵 pic.twitter.com/tuBvfGiC2U
— AFC Wimbledon (@AFCWimbledon) May 28, 2025
Because of that, look for him to make the most of this opportunity, as he looks to further advance his club career, and parlay that into a bigger role for Canada going forward.
All data via WyScout unless otherwise indicated.
