A down on his luck coach travels to American Samoa to train the worst football team in the world in this comedic story based on real life. 

The Dutch-American Thomas Rongen, (Michael Fassbender) having lost his current job after a poor run is given the choice of no job or coaching the worst team in the world. Choosing the option of having a job he finds his hard drinking and serious attitude to the sport at odds with the extremely religious and laid back island life of American Samoa. But with the help of fa’afafine player Jaiyah (Kaimana) he finds himself able to connect with the team and begin to heal personally so that he can help the team. 

Next Goal Wins is based on the 2014 documentary of the same name directed by Mike Brett and Steve Jamison. Here the story has been co-written by Iain Morris and Taika Waititi, who also directs and has a small role as a Priest. In his role as the priest he introduces the film and explains that whilst it is true there are some embellishments. And as with any film based on a true story there are quite a few. 

The crux of the true story is that in 2001, the American Samoa football team suffered a record breaking loss in a World Cup qualifying match 31 – Nil to Australia. They were ranked bottom in the FIFA rankings of 203 teams and at that point had not won a match since becoming a member of FIFA in 1994. As a result they desperately sought to score a single goal in competitive football and sought outside help to do so. This film focuses on Thomas Rongen’s time coaching them in 2011 as they bid to qualify for the 2012 World Cup. 

The result is the sort of film that is incredibly mediocre, has a reasonable array of laughs, will probably make you wish that you had watched the original documentary it was based on and fall out of your memory within a few weeks. 

It is hard to know where to start to be honest as the film falters in its depiction of the true story, its presentation of football and any of its attempts at drama. What it does do well is be very silly and make you laugh occasionally. This in the main is thanks to an array of training montages (which make up the majority of the film) and the fact that everyone on the island seems to have multiple jobs, popping up everywhere. As far as the true story goes it very much skims the surface and even omits the fact that the 2001 game and Rongen’s appointment were 10 years apart. Whilst the specific role of Rongen’s wife (Elizabeth Moss) and boyfriend (Will Arnett) still eludes me, but it is something to do with the football association I think. Football itself has never translated well to the big screen and it fails spectacularly here as they try to represent a team of amateurs who only play incredibly rarely (another fact omitted from the story). Whilst the drama resides in the pain behind Rongen’s emotional instability and the sacrifices made by transgender player Jaiyah. 

A bit of a mess, but one with a few laughs that points you to an interesting real life story. Albeit one not told very accurately here.