Australia 31-American Samoa 0. Remember that score line? The biggest international victory ever. The film Next Goal Wins charts the story of the American Samoa team still smarting from that infamous match in 2001. We meet the players and staff as they prepare for the Pacific Island Games and have matches against such footballing outposts as New Caledonia and The Cook Islands. If you have every seen a game take place on a park field on a Sunday morning with overweight and players with the technical ability of a wardrobe you are at about the American Samoa level. After taking beating after beating and having never won a match in 17 years of trying, the powers that be contact the US soccer federation for help. The only applicant is a Dutchman who had played with Cruyff and Best called Thomas Rongen. He tries to install discipline and some sort of structure to the team. A team that includes guys who hold down up to five jobs, a member of the US army and......(wait for it) a transgender defender. Yes you read it right, Johnny is a transgender play who is accepted as just another player and though the course of the film it becomes clear why she is so well liked. As Rongens methods start to bear fruit, the players courage and love of their country is evident. As the World Cup qualifiers approach the team bond even further as Rongen shares a tragedy from his past that unites everyone even further and gives them even more purpose that they might actually, not only score, but win. It would have been easy for the makers of Next Goal Wins to mock, ridicule and belittle the efforts of the American Samoa side but instead choose to celebrate the remarkable efforts of the pluckiest of plucky underdogs. So this summer, when you are settling down to watch watch Messi, Ronaldo and Rooney in Brazil spare a thought for the tiny Island who dont do it for money but for the love of the game. Score 8.5/10
Posted on: Sun, 11 May 2014 12:03:13 +0000
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