Lucy and Foz evoke Les Murray in tearful World Cup finale

It was an emotional night for Lucy Zelić and Craig Foster.

After a long month of football, SBS World Cup presenters pay an emotional tribute to former colleague Les Murray.

After a long month of football, SBS World Cup presenters pay an emotional tribute to former colleague Les Murray. Source: SBS News

SBS presenters Lucy Zelić and Craig Foster have wrapped up their coverage of the 2018 World Cup with an emotional farewell from Moscow. 

The pair discussed an action-packed final in the early hours of Monday where France defeated Croatia 4-2, before looking back at the tournament that was.

In the final minutes, Zelić teared up evoking the memory of the "great" Les Murray.

"[He is] our beloved and fallen colleague, which is so difficult to say... He's been so missed at this tournament. Coming in, it just didn't feel right without him.  

"Thanks for joining us along the way Australia. The journey doesn't stop here... Let's keep up the fight for the beautiful game."

Let's keep up the fight for the beautiful game. Lucy Zelić
An equally-emotional Foster told the audience he hoped they did Les' memory proud.

"The past month has been simply extraordinary," he said. 

Co-host and former player David Zdrilic - who was also on the couch after the final - said the event was "life changing" for all involved.

Foster also tweeted that, "it's been extraordinary in many ways. Many lessons learnt, questions to face in Australia, joy and tears, memories of Les."

Before the final, Zelić - who has Croatian heritage - also fought back tears as she spoke about what the match meant to Croatians. 




"They've used that adversity to channel it, it's deeply ingrained in their DNA and their culture and it's also the rhetoric that comes out from [coach Zlatko] Dalic, from the players," she said.

Highs and lows

Over the last month, Zelić and Foster became the face of Australia's World Cup coverage.

They made national headlines after Zelić faced trolls who criticised her pronunciation of players' names and Foster came to her defense.

"The way you use language is the most important way to show respect to someone," Foster said.

"If you can't get someone's name right, it says that you’ve got no regard, you haven’t done the work, you haven't tried."

Thousands of Australians also came to Zelić's defense on social media.

Throughout the tournament, the pair shared insights from the ground.

They both got behind Australia.

Only to share in the pain of missing out on the knockout stage.

But at least some Australians were able to get close to the World Cup trophy. 




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