Next Goal Wins, 2014, Icon Productions. Directed by Mike Brett and Steve Jamison. Starring Thomas Rongen, Jaiyah Saelua and Nicky Salapu.
Next Goal Wins tells the sorry
tale of the American Samoa football team. In 2001, they won the world record
for suffering the heaviest defeat in FIFA history, losing 31-0 to
Australia. By 2013, the best they can hope for is an 8-0 defeat. They are the worst football team ever. But
they still play and love football and drive themselves toward the wild dream of
competing in the 2014 World Cup, with trivial things like no resources, a lack
of football culture and a limited talent pool no match for their enthusiasm. They
are, without a doubt, the ultimate underdogs. So of course you fall in love with them instantly.
But every underdog needs a
champion, and he comes in the shape of Thomas Rongen, a Dutch-American soccer
coach flown in to get the team to the World Cup. His hardnosed intensity sits
ill with the laid back lifestyle of the South Pacific. Though not exactly
softened by the islanders, he is shown to have just as much passion for the
sport as his team, and as he conquers mountains with a cigarette in his hand,
you begin to think he might actually get his team to Brazil after all.
Like all good sports films, the
secondary plot tackles a wider social problem taken apart by the love of the
game. Next Goal Wins has Jaiyah, who belongs to American Samoa’s third gender, fa'afafine,
the Way of the Woman. It would have been easy to put all of FIFA’s awful
reputation for sexism and transphobia on her shoulders and make her a symbol of
the growing need for inclusion in the sport, but this is not the case. Instead
of chest thumping declarations of what Jaiyah means for the sport, you see
her relaxed, happy and utterly focused on her game, whilst gaining a glimpse of
the veritable paradise American Samoa seems to be for a transgendered person. She’s
the joyful centre of a very likable group of people and she shines throughout.
Normally, sports films are
beleaguered with a need for internal conflict – someone has to leave just in
time for it to be dramatically significant for them to come back for the half
time oranges, and it’s terribly dull indeed. Not so in Next Goal Wins; by the
time the team come to play their three qualifying matches for the World Cup,
you want to cheer on each and every one of them because they all know that this
is their best chance ever to prove that they can actually play football. Going
from the very worst to just one step up is everything for this team, and that’s
enough drama to have you chewing your nails throughout the final act.
As a story, it’s a five star
classic. As a documentary, it sometimes feels like a film-length training
montage, with compelling issues such as the lack of jobs and opportunities for
young people on the island never fully explored. But it’s gorgeously shot, beautifully
edited and genuinely leaves you with a sense of joy rarely found in modern
documentaries. Treat yourself – check it out.
