Goal !

I am so pleased to see a descent movie about football, which on the other side has remained my favourite sport.

While the settings and the game results are real, we follow the fictional story of an illegal Mexican immigrant to Los Angeles, Santiago Munez. He gets his lucky break when an ex-Newcastle United player turned scout, chances upon his games, and invites him over to England for trials. For a guy who's struggling to make ends meet, this presents the perfect opportunity to take a stab at his dream. But tension builds as his father disapproves and is skeptical at both the chance as well as his son's gift to make it big. So he leaves his real dad and family behind, to follow in the footsteps of Foy, his surrogate father in England.

The Football game shown in the movie is not the real football games that the actors get seamlessly transplanted onto but rather the many trials and tribulations that Munez goes through to earn his rightful place in the squad. His pathetic first experience almost made him take the first plane home, But thankfully it didn't happen.

Movie also shows of the decadent lifestyle of footballers are all in here - the booze, the parties, the clubbing, the women, even video games. Munez gets introduced to these by fellow teammate and cocky new German acquisition, whose partying lifestyle takes a toll on his game. It's fantastic how these two characters contrast each other, and help each other along the way.

People who are not fans of this beautiful game would also never feel alienated in the movie because of the strong human drama weaved into the story, as well as the familiarity of easily identifiable themes of hard work, right ethics, living your dreams and fulfilling your aspirations.

This is a heartwarming tale of one man's struggle to become something more. Despite the obstacles and the disapproval of his father, he goes for the goal. Only to find that it is not going to be that easy after all.