Goal! The Dream Begins (2006)

Kuno Becker
Stephen Dillane
Anna Friel
Marcel Lunes
Alessandro Nivola

Directed by Danny Cannon

Plot: How far would you go to live your dreams? When Santiago Munez is given the chance of a lifetime, he must leave his family, his life in Los Angeles and everything that he knows to travel halfway around the globe to England and into a completely foreign world--the exciting, fast-paced and glamorous world of international soccer. As an underprivileged Mexican-American immigrant growing up in the poor section of Los Angeles, Santiago seemed destined to follow his father's path in life: laboring at menial jobs to earn just enough money to support his family. Naturally gifted, his amazing talent on the soccer field was wasted in recreation league games while he could only dream of playing on the world stage of professional soccer. But when a British scout discovers his talent and gets him a tryout with one of England's premier soccer clubs, Newcastle United, Santiago must choose between his father's fate and his own destiny. Now alone in a world where soccer is a religion and players are gods, this underdog must prove that he's got the talent and determination to make it amongst the best in the world.

Review: In case everyone doesn’t know by now, I love sports movies. I don’t care which sport as long as it’s a good movie. I haven’t been into soccer since my son stopped playing 3 years ago, but when I saw this trailer I thought it looked interesting.

This movie was really good. All of the performances were good, not any kind of Oscar worthy performance, but good nonetheless. The story is the typical underdog story with nothing too original. The biggest difference with this film was the fact that the talented kid did not have to compete with anyone or anything except for his own issues. It gave the story a different dimension and worked well. The selling point to this movie is mostly the soccer scenes. All of them were shot very well and added excitement to the film. I enjoyed this movie and recommend it.


Film Review Index