Mark Bosnich
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Mark Bosnich (born January 13, 1972 in Fairfield, New South Wales), is Australia's best ever association football (soccer) goalkeeper, representing his country on many occasions and playing for English Premier League clubs Aston Villa, Manchester United, and Chelsea.
Growing up in a suburb of Sydney, Bosnich played briefly for Sydney Croatia (a team in the Australian National Soccer League), before moving, at age 16, to join Manchester United. After two seasons there, he left to join Aston Villa, where he made his reputation as one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League.
His appearances with the Australian national team were quite rare (as indeed they are for most Australian players, as a full-strength Australian side is only assembled for World Cup qualification playoffs), but memorable, keeping Australia in the away leg of its home-and-away playoff with Iran to enter the 1998 World Cup. His heroics were wasted after midfield defensive errors and missed opportunities allowed Iran a 2-2 draw in the home leg and thus let them through on away goals.
In 1999 he transferred back to Manchester United, where he immediately established himself as Peter Schmeichel's successor as the first team keeper. However, the next season he was soon relegated to third-choice keeper. He chose to stay at United and try to regain his spot rather than accept being loaned to Scottish club Celtic. He transferred to Chelsea in 2001, but again failed to gain a place in the first team.
Bosnich went through an apparently bitter marriage breakup around this period, and in mid-2002 his football career reached rock-bottom when he tested positive for cocaine. When a second sample tested positive some time later he was suspended from playing for 9 months and also sacked by Chelsea.