Craig Foster (footballer)

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Personal information
Craig Foster
Full name	Craig Andrew Foster
Date of birth	April 15, 1969
Place of birth	Lismore, New South Wales, Australia
Nickname	Fozzie, Foz, The Foz
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Retired
Youth clubs
?-?, 1986-1987	Goonellabah, Australian Institute of Sport
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1989 1989/1990 1991 1992 1992 1995/1996 1996/1997 1997/1998 1998/2000 2000/2003	Sydney United Sunshine Bonnyrigg White Eagles Avala Earnest Boral Adelaide City Marconi Stallions Portsmouth F.C. Crystal Palace F.C. Northern Spirit FC	20 (1) ? (?) ? (?) ? (?) ? (?) ? (?) 24 (3) 16 (2) 13 (3) 47 (5)
National team
1996 – 2000	Australia	29 (9)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Craig Andrew Foster (born April 15, 1969) is a former Australian football (soccer) player and currently a commentator of the sport and coach for Nerds FC.

[edit] Football career

Playing as a midfielder, Foster debuted with Sydney United from Sydney, New South Wales before playing with Victorian club Sunshine George Cross before returning to Sydney to play for Bonnyrigg White Eagles. In 1992, Foster moved to Earnest Boral in Hong Kong. He also played for Adelaide City and Marconi Stallions in the NSL before moving to England as a 28 year old. His three season unsuccessful stint in England saw him play with Portsmouth F.C., before moving on a free transfer to Crystal Palace F.C., where he is remembered for being one of their worst players ever and played until the end of the 1999/00.

He also earned 29 caps with the Australia national football team, scoring 9 goals and represented Australia at under 16 level at the 1985 World Youth Championships Finals in China.

[edit] Post-football career

Following his retirement, Foster became the chief football analyst for SBS' football coverage, and is remembered for his passionate commentary during the World Cup Qualifier in November 2005 against Uruguay, where he openly celebrated John Aloisi's sealing goal in the penalty shootout. Moments such as these have led to allegations that he is biased when commentating Australian matches.^{[citation needed]} He, along with fellow SBS presenter Andrew Orsatti, were critical of the former Australian coach Frank Farina who kept his job for seven years despite little success in competitive internationals. Foster's stance was vindicated when Farina was sacked and Hiddink took Australia to the Round of 16 stage at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

During Socceroos matches, Foster provides special comments during the game and bucks the recent SBS tradition of having a single man in the commentary box by accompanying the match commentator with his analysis.

On November 12, 2006 Foster was again involved in controversy with an Australian manager. This time it was an on-air argument with national youth coach Ange Postecoglou on SBS's The World Game show. Foster blamed Ange for the youth team's failure to qualify for the past two tournaments since being inducted into the AFC in January. Ange argued that Foster didn't know what he was talking about as he wasn't at the games and hadn't been to any of the training sessions. Foster then recommended to Ange that he accept responsibility for the Australian youth team's poor performance, and that he also resign as national youth coach, to which Ange stated that he would not resign, and that he will keep his position unless the FFA decide to sack him.