Next Goal Wins Trailer: Taika Waititi Tells The Story Of The World's Worst Soccer Team
In 2001, the national soccer team of American Samoa played a qualifying match against Australia for the FIFA World Cup. American Samoa did not qualify, but the team did set a world record for the worst loss in an international soccer match when the game ended with a score of 31-0.
A decade later, Dutch-American soccer coach Thomas Rongen was assigned the job of bringing American Samoa's team up to the skill level needed to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. This daunting task was chronicled in the 2014 documentary "Next Goal Wins," and now director Taika Waititi has brought a dramatized version of the story to the screen in a new movie with the same title. Michael Fassbender stars as Rongen, while Waititi himself appears in a minor role as a priest on the island and also the film's narrator. The cast also includes Will Arnett, who stepped in for reshoots after Armie Hammer was cut from the movie.
"Next Goal Wins" actually began filming almost four years ago, in November 2019, but between one thing (the reshoots) and another (the pandemic), it's taken a long time to make its way to the big screen. The wait is almost over, though, and you can check out the new trailer for "Next Goal Wins" below.
Any goal will do in the Next Goal Wins trailer
"Next Goal Wins" is a return to the smaller-scale, lower-budget comedies ("Hunt for the Wilderpeople," "What We Do in the Shadows") that Waititi made before he got tapped to direct a couple of "Thor" movies by Marvel Studios. In contrast to the rave reviews for those early works, the response from critics has been decidedly mixed since "Next Goal Wins" premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. You can read /Film's review here.
If you're interested in the story of American Samoa's underdog soccer team, and don't want to wait until November to learn more, you can check out the 2014 documentary first — though it's a bit of a challenge to watch it legally if you live in the U.S. Currently the only options are importing a DVD from overseas, or watching through Kanopy if you have a library card with a participating public library or academic institution.
As for Waititi's take on "Next Goal Wins," that lands in theaters on November 17, 2023. Its synopsis reads:
Directed by Academy Award Winner Taika Waititi ("Jojo Rabbit," "Thor: Ragnarok"), NEXT GOAL WINS follows the American Samoa soccer team, infamous for their brutal 31-0 FIFA loss in 2001. With the World Cup Qualifiers approaching, the team hires down-on-his-luck, maverick coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender) hoping he will turn the world's worst soccer team around in this heartfelt underdog comedy.