The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #71: "Next Goal Wins"

The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #71: "Next Goal Wins"

The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #71

By Xavier E. Palacios

"Next Goal Wins"

3.5 out of 5

Directed by Taika Waititi

Rated PG-13

Inspired by a true story ("with a few embellishments", as stated by the film), in 2001, the men's American Samoa national soccer team, made up of citizens of the small island in the Pacific Ocean, lost a World Cup qualifying match against Australia, 31-0. In 2011, the team, which includes the transgender player, Jaiyah Saelua, has done no better and the qualifying match against the island nation of Tonga is upcoming. Coach Thomas Rongen, a failure with a bad temper and negative view of living life, is cast away to American Samoa by his soccer organization's bosses and must properly train these players in the beautiful game by embracing personal connections, all in the pursuit of achieving the team's first goal.

I absolutely love soccer.

Yes, yes, I know I spin poetics on the storytelling arts from here to eternity. After all, as of this writing, I may be the only late-twenties Latino in the world who is consciously and happily reading Herman Melville's Moby-Dick of his own free will. (After listening to a post-screening panel of Robocop, still a fantastic film, by the way, led by the picture's star, the esteemed Dr. Peter Weller, I realize I have got to study more Art history, too). To be a human being is to adore music, so, particularly as I am illiterate for music sheets, I do not consider my love of perhaps humanity's greatest artistic medium to be special. Yet most who know me would likely say I am not a sports guy but an arts guy, a geek.

However, I repeat, I love soccer very much. I actually like certain sports. For example, thanks to the manga masterpiece, Haikyu!! I have fallen for the thrill that is volleyball. I always had an affinity for baseball, and, as a teenager, got to gladly see a Major League Baseball (MLB) game. In fact, for the first time ever, this year, I actively watched games from and followed the current MLB season. These experiences showed me I could go nuts for volleyball; that baseball really is a piece of the world's magic. But soccer remains the beautiful game, always.

I consistently played the sport from when I was a little kid to when I was a teenager, primarily as a defender and then a keeper (or "goalie" for the uninitiated). The training is instilled in my mind and bones to this very day; many of my core memories originate from these years. Half of my upbringing in a Latino culture came from playing on team after team at local soccer parks. I learned my first Spanish curse words from these times. My Puerto Rican grandfather told me once that soccer was the greatest sport because all people needed to play were four markers that defined two separate goals and a ball. I follow the English Premiere League with my sister, (poor old Everton). I watch every World Cup, both men and women's tournaments, and have many great memories because of them.

In fact, while taking an Uber with my family back to our hotel after seeing a major production of the Anastasia musical during the winter 2022 World Cup games, our driver, a dark-skinned man with short hair and an accent, was silent. When my sister and I got to talking about the games earlier that day, hoping that Morocco would keep advancing forward in the tournament, our driver spoke up, asking if we were definitely talking about the World Cup. We said we were. He became upbeat, smiling, and said, having come from an African nation to the United States, he, too, was rooting greatly for Morocco to become, at least, the first African team to make the World Cup finals. I shared with him the anecdote about my grandpa's belief on soccer. We three talked about the World Cup and the sport like chums for next ten minutes.