Goal Where The Dream Begins

[Sharon Harris]

Goalwas made with co-operation from FIFA, which enabled the inclusion of FIFPro likenesses of real teams and players. Adidas contributed a reported $50 million towards the film's budget and marketing campaign, marking the then-biggest deal between a corporate brand and a film production.[4]

Santiago Muez, a Mexican illegal immigrant living in Los Angeles, is a skilled footballer who plays for his local team and works as a gardener with his father, Hernan, and as a busboy in a Chinese restaurant. During one of his matches, Santiago is approached by Glen Foy, a former player and scout for Newcastle United, who helps arrange a trial with the club. To afford travel to England, Santiago saves his earnings, which Hernan steals to buy a truck for the business, being dismissive of Santiago's chances at becoming a professional. Santiago's grandmother, Mercedes, secretly hands him money and urges him to depart for England before Hernan can find out.

Arriving in Newcastle, Santiago stays with Glen and begins his trial. In muddy conditions, Santiago struggles under pressure from Hughie McGowan, a teammate, during a training match. Although unimpressed, Erik Dornhelm, the club's manager, acquiesces to Glen's request that Santiago's trial last for a month. During a medical, Santiago lies about his asthma to club nurse, Roz Harmison, fearing it will damage his chances of being signed; he is then given a one-month contract.

Despite facing some bullying by Hughie, Santiago becomes friends with Jamie Drew, another player on trial. Santiago soon adapts to English conditions and a reserve match is scheduled at the end of his trial to determine his signing on a full-time basis. Before the match, Santiago tries to use his inhaler but Hughie destroys it, leading to an asthma flare-up. After another disappointing performance, Newcastle let Santiago go.

On his way to the airport, Santiago's taxi picks up Gavin Harris, an indisciplined, struggling yet talented player who recently joined Newcastle. Gavin, late for training, finds out about Santiago's asthma, and informs Erik. Erik lets Santiago stay, contingent on him seeking treatment for his asthma. Santiago then moves in with Gavin and they form a friendship. After impressive performances in the reserves, Santiago makes his debut for the first team, coming on as a substitute against Fulham. Santiago earns a penalty, which helps them win the match, a moment proudly seen on TV by Hernan.

Despite the victory, Erik criticizes Santiago's selfishness on the pitch, urging him to pass the ball more. That night, he and Gavin go out partying and their drunken picture winds up in The Sun, enraging Erik. Jamie suffers a career-ending injury as Santiago and Gavin's friendship starts to crumble. Hernan suffers a fatal heart attack and Santiago prepares to return home. At the airport, Santiago abandons his flight, instead training until the early hours at St James' Park after a conversation with Roz, with whom Santiago begins a relationship. Erik then informs Santiago he has been selected to start the season's final game against Liverpool.

The film was the first of a planned trilogy.[5] Originally the lead role was supposed to be played by Diego Luna but he left to pursue other projects and was replaced by Kuno Becker. Michael Winterbottom was also slated to direct the film but after creative differences he was replaced by Danny Cannon. Shooting for the film commenced in January 2005 and locations included Pinewood Studios, London, Newcastle, and Los Angeles.[6]

A soundtrack album was released on Oasis' Big Brother Recordings label in 2005 and contains three Oasis songs unavailable elsewhere, including the exclusive Noel Gallagher song "Who Put the Weight of the World on My Shoulders?" The soundtrack also contains a re-recorded version of Oasis' "Cast No Shadow" with Gallagher on vocals and produced by Unkle. Dave Sardy, a producer of two Oasis albums, contributed a remix of their song "Morning Glory" for inclusion on the soundtrack.

On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 42% based on 83 reviews, with an average score of 5.20/10. The website's critics' consensus reads: "Impressive sports action sequences are the highlight, as the run-of the-mill story invokes every known sports movie clich".[7] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100 based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[8] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[9]

Roger Ebert praised the film, awarding it three stars out of four and calling it "surprisingly effective". He went on to say: "I was surprised, then, to find myself enjoying the movie almost from the beginning. It had some of the human reality of Gregory Nava's work".[10] Ebert singled out Kuno Becker's lead performance in the film and praised it, saying, "the starring performance by Becker is convincing and dimensional and we begin to care for him. A Mexican star of films and TV and three English-language films little released in America has not only star quality but something more rare; likability".

Variety.com called it "a slickly mounted slice of can-do nonsense";[11] BBC Film labelled it a "fantasy";[12] and UEFA Perspective called it brilliant.[13] The film scored moderately at the box office, making $27.6 million[14] in cinemas, but by the time it reached DVD, huge sales made it the gold standard for sports films in the UK, many European territories and South America.[15] In 2018, SPORTbible voted Goal! the "Greatest Football Film of All Time".[16]

Santiago and his father argue repeatedly about his dream to play soccer; Hernan complains about the wife who abandoned her family; Santiago hides his asthma from team; Gavin is a hard partier and womanizer who learns to be serious about his work (soccer).

Group sexual activity at party insinuated, then makes tabloid headlines; Gavin has sex with girl (we see kiss only, the scene cuts to next morning in bed, as he wakes up hung over); Santiago kisses his nurse/girlfriend Roz.

Language mostly expresses anger or frustration: "bull-snot," "shite" (a few times as a running joke, to show that Gavin is a disappointment to his fans), "boneheads," "hell," comment on getting the "squirts" in Mexico.

Parents need to know that film includes some loud and body-slamming soccer action, usually leading to someone's face bruised or a limb brutally banged. Characters lie to one another (including family members) in order to achieve ambitions. British teammates make fun of Santiago at first. A decadent star soccer player appears drunk and hung over repeatedly; he also appears with multiple sex partners (sex takes place off-screen, following brief kiss or embrace). Characters smoke cigarettes and drink, a couple of characters appear to have been snorting cocaine during a party scene, as they sniff and rub their noses. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.

A dedicated soccer (or football, as it's called in Europe) player from the time he was a child, Santiago leaves Mexico with his father Hernan (Tony Plana) in search of a new life in Los Angeles. As a young man, Santiago (now played by Kuno Becker) works for his father's gardening company, but hangs onto his dream of being a soccer champion. When he's spotted by a former scout for Newcastle United, Glen Foy (Stephen Dillane), he makes his way to England in order to try out for the team. In England, Santiago faces a number of trials and obstacles in pursuit of his dream.

A generically inspirational sports movie, GOAL! THE DREAM BEGINS focuses on the worldwide popularity of soccer. While the movie is full of clichs and runs too long, it does raise some timely issues, almost in spite of itself. For one thing, it reveals the difficulties of Santiago's life in a Los Angeles barrio, with his father, younger brother, and grandmother Rose (Miriam Colon): They have no chance at social mobility, despite years of hard work and following the rules, as they are technically "illegal." By the same token, once Santiago proves himself as a player, his new employers are eager to exploit his potential, as a winner and money-maker. Santiago's dream, in other words, hinges on making someone else wealthy. That said, he looks very happy when he score a big goal on television.

Families can talk about the conflict between Santiago and his father, as they clash over how best to support the family. How does the film resolve this relationship, even though they don't see one another again after Santiago leaves L.A.? How does the grandmother help to bring them together? Why do so many sports movies tend to focus on the same themes?

Santiago Muez (Kuno Becker) is a skilled footballer. The son of a gardener who lives in a barrio section of Los Angeles, Santiago works as a busboy in a Chinese restaurant and helps with his father's (Tony Plana) gardening business. His ultimate dream is to play football professionally. Due to his poverty and the fact that he plays solely for a club made up of Hispanics from a local car wash, he feels his chances are slim. Santiago is noticed by Glen Foy (Stephen Dillane), a former Newcastle United player who works as a car mechanic but still has ties to his old team. Glen arranges to get Santiago a tryout with Newcastle United, who recently signed talented new player Gavin Harris (Alessandro Nivola). Needing to get to England, Santiago begins to save his money in an old shoe, but his father finds the stash and takes it to buy a GMC truck to allow them to work for themselves, believing that Santiago's dreams are hopeless. His dream is not lost though, as his grandmother (Miriam Colon) sells off her jewellery to buy him a ticket to England.

Glen warmly welcomes Santiago to his home and takes him to the tryout. Unfamiliar with the English style, he performs poorly. Glen convinces the team's manager that Santiago needs a month's trial to show his full potential. Santiago does not tell club nurse, Roz Harmison (Anna Friel), that he has asthma. After a month, a jealous teammate crushes Santiago's inhaler before a reserve game. An asthma flare-up prevents him from being able to run hard, and his coach lets him go. While on his way to the airport Santiago meets Gavin Harris, who was late to arrive to the team. Harris finds out what has happened and makes Santiago explain it to the manager. The manager allows Santiago to stay, provided he gets treatment for the asthma. Santiago earns a contract for the reserves team and moves in with Gavin. Finally he gets onto the first team as a substitute in a match against Fulham. There he wins a penalty for Newcastle, which is taken by Gavin winning them the match. Unknown to anyone else in his family, his father watches the match on TV in the USA, and after finally watching his son play, he leaves a proud father. Despite the victory, the manager informs Santiago that his weakness is that he does not pass the ball off. That night, he and Gavin go out partying. A picture of the two winds up in the tabloid The Sun, causing anger from the manager. At the same time, Santiago's friend, Jamie, suffers a career-ending injury that only causes him additional grief.

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