Next Goal Wins (2023)
★★★ — Next Goal Wins (2023)
There are underdog sports stories, and then there is the story of American Samoa. In 2001, the national football team lost a World Cup qualifying match to Australia by a score of 31 goals to nil, a result that entered the record books as the heaviest defeat in the history of international football. It is the kind of statistic that could define a nation's entire relationship with the sport, and for a long time it did. Next Goal Wins (2023) picks up the aftermath of that defeat, following the appointment of Dutch-American coach Thomas Rongen as the man tasked with dragging the team towards something more respectable ahead of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. The film is based on the 2014 documentary of the same name, which itself followed the real Rongen and the real American Samoan players through that unlikely campaign. It is a story with genuine heart baked into the facts, which gives any adaptation a decent foundation to build on.
Behind the camera is Taika Waititi, the New Zealand writer and director who has built a reputation for mixing warmth and absurdist humour across some very different projects. His mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows (2014) and his Marvel outing Thor: Ragnarok (2017) both showed a director with a particular comic sensibility, playful and self-aware, though whether that sensibility always lands is a matter of some debate. Next Goal Wins was produced through a collaboration between The Imaginarium, Searchlight Pictures and TSG Entertainment, with shooting taking place partly on location in the Pacific. Waititi also co-wrote the screenplay. In the lead role of Rongen is Michael Fassbender, a performer with considerable range who has tackled everything from kitchen-sink drama (his work in Fish Tank (2009) remains one of his most talked-about performances) to franchise blockbusters. Alongside him, the film features Oscar Kightley, David Fane and Rachel House in supporting roles, with Kaimana in a particularly noted part as Jaiyah Saelua, a fa'afafine player whose inclusion in the team carries real cultural significance. The 104-minute runtime keeps things moving at a brisk enough pace for a comedy-drama.
A-Z World Tour Challenge American Samoa Michael Fassbender switches accents 4 times. Is he British? American? Irish? Dutch? Because you're going to hear all 4. Also... Taika Waititi just doesn't do comedy well. That aside... this overall was a good sports movie. It felt quite a bit like Cool Runnings, apart from the main character being an unlikeable drunk until the twist reveals why. I like a good sports movie and the fact it's loosely based on real life make this all the more endearing. Not to mention the fantastic look into life and culture on American Samoa. They've earned a fan in me.
Thinking back on it, the cultural side is genuinely what sticks with me most. A film like this could easily have used American Samoa purely as an exotic backdrop for a story that is really about the coach's redemption arc, and for stretches it does lean that way. But the glimpses of fa'afafine identity and island life feel considered rather than tokenistic, and that makes the whole thing sit a bit more comfortably than a straightforward fish-out-of-water comedy might. The Cool Runnings comparison feels right to me as well, that particular mix of laughs, genuine sporting tension and a warm payoff that earns its emotion rather than simply demanding it. Fassbender's accent carousel is a distraction, no two ways about it, but the film around him has enough going for it. Sometimes a story is good enough to carry the rough edges with it.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 2023 | Watched: 2025-05-21
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for Next Goal Wins (2023) on YouTube
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
Affiliate disclosure: Movies With Macca may earn a small commission on purchases or subscriptions started via these links. It costs you nothing extra.
Related on Movies With Macca
More from Taika Waititi: What We Do in the Shadows (2014) · Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
More with Michael Fassbender: Assassin's Creed (2016) · X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) · X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) · X-Men: First Class (2011)
More from New Zealand: What We Do in the Shadows (2014) · Mortal Engines (2018) · King Kong (2005) · 'Aho'eitu (2015)
More from the 2020s: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · The Long Walk (2025) · Americana (2023)
More comedy: The Eagle (1925) · The General (1926) · Americana (2023) · The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
More drama: Viy (1967) · Wonder (2017) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Beautiful Boy (2018)
