Next Goal Wins

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.