As the old adage asks, does the effort matter or the outcome? How long can someone – a person, team, fan base and country – toil away for success without ever achieving their aim? Next Goal Wins asks the questions that plague a sporting team that strives for fulfilment, but stays cognisant of the rewards of following their passion regardless of the end result. Resilience reigns, as does hope and the lingering possibility of redemption, in a chronicle of the kind of spirit, win or lose, that can never be beaten.
In April 2001, American Samoa’s soccer team was branded the worst in the world following a 31-0 loss to Australia in a World Cup qualifying match – the heaviest defeat in the history of international competition. By July 2011, their fortunes hadn’t improved, with the squad still sat at the bottom of FIFA’s official rankings, having lost every game they had ever played.
A wealth of factors contributed to their struggles: a dire lack of resources, the mass exodus of many of the nation’s potential players to military service, and the fact that the entire cohort pursues the sport as a sideline to whatever it is they must do to earn a living. In the lead up to the next chance for glory, drastic measures are taken to stem the constant trouncing. The help of the U.S. Soccer Federation is sought; a new leader, Dutch coach Thomas Rongen, is installed; an American Samoan-born, U.S. raised star, Rawlston Masaniai, is recruited.
Throughout Next Goal Wins, directors Mike Brett and Steve Jamison document an underdog story so archetypal that it can only be accurate, charting the journey of the down but never out. A compelling tale sits within elements of the team of enthusiastic participants, be it Johnny or Jaiyah Saelua, the fa’afafine – or transgender – teammate who leaves her identity off the field, or Ramin, the soldier and family man who spends his entire annual leave playing the sport. And then there’s Nicky Salapu, the much-maligned goalkeeper for more than a decade, whose influence and legacy is inescapable even after he retires to Seattle.
If the film was fiction, it would sit alongside television series Friday Night Lights as one of the most inspiring and involving depictions of the way sport can shape and changes lives – not in the actual score of a given match or season, but in the loyalty and commitment it elicits. As a slick statement of fact, it uses emotive tactics of engaging music and intimate footage to evoke the desired effect; however its construction merely packages the reality into a pleasing package. The affecting core of the true story always remains in every honest address to camera and softly shot training and bonding montage.
In their first feature, Brett and Jamison excel at employing narrative techniques within documentary confines, even as they follow a culturally specific but still well-worn path. The background and build-up to the historic three-match bid to make it to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil is incisively handled, and the drama of the games that determine their fate overflows with sweetness and suspense. From start to finish, their film draws the audience into what becomes a celebration of tenacity above all else. Indeed, it was the promise of this approach that enabled the filmmakers to gain access to a team that had turned down other attempts to take their plight to the screen.
That the feel-good aspect of American Samoa’s story dominates the movie is far from surprising, nor is the lack of analysis into the how and why of gameplay; that’s just not crucial when overcoming the odds is all that matters. That Next Goal Wins proves such a delight despite its traversing of the familiar is much less expected. Here, the journey truly matters, not the destination.
Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 stars
Next Goal Wins
Director: Mike Brett and Steve Jamison
UK, 2014, 97 mins
Distributor: ACMI
Rated: M
1 – 15 May
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