England Goalkeeper Ben Foster Finding Life Tough At Manchester United

By Edward Pearce

England and Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster has admitted that he is finding it hard to come to terms with his starkly differing roles for club and country.

Foster began the season as first choice at Old Trafford following Edwin van der Sar's pre-season finger injury and was heavily tipped to establish himself as number one for both United and England.

However, after a handful of high-profile slips, Foster made way for the fit-again Van der Sar in October and may even have slipped to third in Ferguson's pecking order, with Tomasz Kuszczak preferred among the substitutes in recent games.

Foster's only recent club appearance was in the League Cup tie against Barnsley although United's number three has started England's last two games, a contrast he finds somewhat surreal.

"It's a weird one," he said, as quoted by the Press Association.

"I am third choice for Manchester United at the moment yet I am playing for my country.

"It is very disheartening not even be on the bench at United.

"Edwin is one of the best keepers in the world. I can't really go knocking on the manager's door and say he is not doing his job because he is."

Foster has previously stated his desire to stay at Old Trafford to see if he can establish himself at one of the world's biggest clubs.

Many experienced judges believed he could including his manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who backed Foster to go to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as England's first choice.

However, Ferguson's commitment to giving Foster as much match practice as possible appears to have given way in the face of increasingly nervy displays by the Englishman and the continued excellence of Van der Sar.

"I thought I started off well but then there was a period of two or three games where I made a few mistakes," added Foster.

"But they were the only ones I made really and I was disappointed to find myself out of the team."

It would take a brave man to confront Ferguson about the situation and Foster has no intention of doing that just yet.

The former Watford stopper is, however, thankful to Fabio Capello for sticking with him and Foster made several excellent saves in Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Brazil.

The Three Lions' goalkeeper did breathe a sigh of relief during Saturday's defeat in Qatar, however, when his second-half challenge on Nilmar brought Brazil a penalty without the usual automatic red card.

"I definitely thought I was gone," Foster continued.

"It was exactly what happened to Robert Green in the Ukraine and he went. The referee probably left it because it was a friendly.

"I was happy to stay on the pitch because I was really grateful for the chance.

"It was a bit out of the blue but I have done really well in training this week and thankfully, the boss stuck with me.

"It is everything for a footballer to go to the World Cup but I can't go saying 'I want to leave' or anything like that.

"I have just got to see what happens."