Suffering a humiliating, record-setting 31-0 defeat against Australia in 2001, the national soccer team from American Samoa languished in a losing-streak funk for years, becoming notorious as the lowest-ranked team in FIFA. In Mike Brett and Steve Jamison's engaging soccer-mentary, cameras follow attempts to rehab the crestfallen team of Pacific Islanders some 10 years later, chiefly through the tough-love mentoring of Dutch coach Thomas Rongen (the lone applicant for the job). Importing fresh players from the USA and talking the original, notorious 2001 goalie into coming back to redeem himself, Rongen sets to work. Rongen looks and talks like he was carved from an oaken rod (Clint Eastwood would be apt in a biopic), and he has a tragic backstory, but he takes well to the tropics, and rallies the team—including the first-ever transgender player—to enough victories to qualify for competition in the World Cup. Besides built-in underdog and nobility-of-competition themes, the exotic setting and culture is attention-grabbing on its own terms (and the terrible tsunami and earthquake of 2004 is woven into the narrative). A solid addition to sports collections, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)
Next Goal Wins
(2014) 97 min. DVD: $20.99. Ketchup Entertainment (avail. from most distributors). Closed captioned. December 15, 2014
Next Goal Wins
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