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Goal! (film)

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Goal!
Goal! film poster
Directed byDanny Cannon
Written byAdrian Butchart
Dick Clement
Ian La Frenais
Produced byMatt Barrelle
Mark Huffam
StarringKuno Becker
Alessandro Nivola
Marcel Iures
Stephen Dillane
Distributed byTouchstone Pictures
Release dates
September 30, 2005 UK
Running time
118 min.
LanguageEnglish

Goal! (also known as Goal! The Dream Begins! in the United States) is a 2005 film directed by Danny Cannon.

This is the first installment of a trilogy named Goal!. This film was made with full cooperation from FIFA, which is one of the reasons actual teams are used throughout the movie. The second installment, Goal! 2: Living the Dream..., was released in February 2007. The third and final installment, Goal! 3, is currently being filmed and follows the lead character, Santiago, as he participates in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Plot

The movie starts with a clip showing Santiago Munez playing football as a child in Mexico. The same night, his family illegally enter into the United States to find a better living. Santi grows up in the USA and works with his father as a gardener. At night he works as a cook in a Chinese restaurant. He also plays football for a small local team called AJFC. He goes to play a match one day after his work with his father, where he is forced to use a pair of cardboard pieces as shin guards as he cannot afford any. He saves his money and hides it in his shoes every night to purchase a football kit.

The next day, while playing football, he is noticed by Glen Foy, an ex-Newcastle player and scout, who asks him to come to England for a tryout with Newcastle United. He returns home to find that his father has stolen his money hidden in the shoes and used it to purchase a new Chevy truck. His father laughs at him when he says he was asked by a scout to play in England. Glen tells Santi that on the next match day, he will call an agent who was in US to set up a meeting with the Newcastle manager. The agent, Barry, does not turn up and lies that he is in a meeting. Later, Glen himself calls the Newcastle boss and arranges for a meeting. Santi's father does not allow him to go to England. His grandmother sells off part of her jewellery and buys a ticket for Santi to travel to England without the father knowing about this.

On arrival in England, Glen warmly welcomes Santi to his house and arranges for a trial. Santi completely messes up his first trial and is rejected by the manager. Glen then manages to convince the manager that Santi was nervous and requested for a month's trial. Santi successfully passes the medical test (Roz is the nurse checking him). At the same time, Newcastle sign Gavin Harris. After a month, in a reserve game, another jealous teammate crushes Santi's inhaler (Santi has asthma which he hides from the club officials). His performance is very poor in the match as he is not able to run. He is then removed from the club.

On his way to the airport, Santi meets Harris, who forces the cab driver to pick him up and drop him at training as his car tires have been stolen. Harris remembers seeing Santi in the club and finds out what happened in the reserve game. Harris convinces the manager to extend Santi's stay at the club. After treatment at the club, Santi is able to play more confidently and aggressively. He finally makes it into the first team. He starts as a substitute against a match against Fulham as many of the first team players were injured. He gets his chance when a player is injured and manages to win a penalty for Newcastle which ultimately won them the match (His father watches the match on TV in USA and is very proud of his son). The manager keeps telling Santi that his weakness was that he does not pass the ball. Santi is then transferred back to the reserves. Santi thinking he won't be able to stay long at the club goes to St. James' Park to feel how it is to play on the pitch. The manager tells him to get off the pitch and that he could get the feeling when he played in Newcastle's final game against Liverpool. In the training session before the match, Santi's father dies of heart attack. Santi is completely demoralized and heartbroken though his father always criticized him. He decides to stay and play for the team in the final match rather than go back.

In the match against Liverpool, Newcastle takes the lead first thanks to a goal from Harris. Before half-time, Liverpool make a comeback with two goals, one from Gerrard and one from Milan Baros. In the dying minutes before injury time, Santi assists Harris in scoring the equalizer by finally passing the ball to him and correcting his major drawback in football. In the dying minutes of the injury time, Harris is tripped. Harris decides to make Santi take the final free kick. Santi scores with a beautiful free kick swinging away from the Liverpool goalkeeper. Glen runs down the stands and gives his mobile saying that Santi's grandmother had called. She is very happy and proud and congratulates her grandson. She also adds that his father had come to watch his first match. The film ends with Santiago shedding tears of joy while embracing his realized dream.

Cast listing

Cameo appearances

The film was notable for the large number of cameo appearances, most of them by football players playing themselves:

Release dates

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released on Oasis' Big Brother label and contains three Oasis songs unavailable elsewhere, including the exclusive Noel Gallagher sung "Who Put The Weight Of The World On My Shoulders?"

The soundtrack also contains a re-recorded version of Oasis' "Cast No Shadow" with Noel Gallagher on vocals and produced by UNKLE. Dave Sardy, a producer of two Oasis albums, also contributed a hard edged remix of their song "Morning Glory" for inclusion on the soundtrack.

References

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