'Next Goal Wins’: Creative Team Talks About Documentary About ‘Worst Soccer Team’ In The World [EXCLUSIVE]

“Next Goal Wins” is a must-see documentary about hope and never giving up. It is an inspirational story about the power of hope when having to face many obstacles. It is about the American Samoan football team. They lost 31-0 against Australia in 2001, a world record defeat. They were known as the ‘worst football team on the planet.’They finally win a game after not having won one for 17 years.

The team faces the prospect of a qualification campaign for the upcoming 2014 World Cup in Brazil. It would definitely take a miracle to turn this team’s fate around. The miracle came with the name of Thomas Rongen. He had been a successful coach in the MLS and other leagues. “It was a unique opportunity to do something different. I knew there were some challenges ahead but I also knew it was a great opportunity for me as a coach to put my mark on a team. Every coach would love to coach in a World Cup qualifying match. It would make sense for me. Spent most of my career in the United States, My roots are in the Netherlands. This was the journey I wanted to take with my wife. It was something real special,” Rongen told Latin Times when asked about the feeling he had when he found out he was going to be coaching this losing team.

Coach Rongen got Nicky Salapu, the goal keeper who had allowed 31 goals in the match against Australia, to come on board and rekindle his love for the game as well as have the chance to redeem himself. “I was trying really hard to get out of that situation to make sure that 31-0 was a fluke. It’s not the same anymore.” Salapu said.

The team faced many challenges and obstacles but their was one player on the team that had confidence despite being a woman in a male dominated sport. Jaiyah Saelua is a member of Samoa’s third gender. She lives as a woman 24/7. “It’s a part of the culture and I didn’t expect any challenges because it is their duty to accept who I am. It’s just the way people are in Samoa, it’s part of the culture.” Saelua told Latin Times. She would then become a starter for the team and coach Rongen named her “Woman of the Match.”

“You can expect to laugh, you can expect to cry, you can expect to fall in love with the game if you don’t know anything about it beforehand. You can expect to fall back in love with it if the game had become a bit tainted to you or became a bit of an industry. I think you can expect to fall in love with Samoan culture. You can expect to reconsider what’s important in life,” Steve Jamison, one of the film’s directors said when asked what viewers can expect from the film.

Mike Brett, also one of the directors, told Latin Times, “Every step of the way has been a challenge We had to convince the guys of the Football Federation of American Samoa that we weren’t there to make them look bad, we were there to celebrate the fact that they loved soccer as much as they did.”

This inspirational film arrives Friday in select cities. You will not want to miss it for nothing in the world, you will cry, you will laugh and you will definitely not be disappointed. Take a look at the trailer!