Synopsis
Like millions of kids around the world, Santiago harbors the dream of being a professional footballer... However, living in the Barrios section of Los Angeles, he thinks it is only that--a dream. Until one day an extraordinary turn of events has him trying out for Premiership club Newcastle United.
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Cast
- Kuno BeckerSantiago Munez
- Alessandro NivolaGavin Harris
- Anna FrielRoz Harmison
- Stephen DillaneGlen Foy
- Gary LewisMal Braithwaite
- Kieran O'BrienHughie McGowan
- Sean PertweeBarry Rankin
- Marcel IureșErik Dornhelm
- Tony PlanaHernan Munez
- Miriam ColonMercedes
Recommendations
- 75
Chicago Tribune
Most sports films are also fish-out-of-water stories, and this one qualifies as both. - 67
The A.V. Club
How much viewers care about what happens in Goal! is directly proportionate to how much they care about soccer, because decent execution aside, there's an underdog fantasy movie just like this one for every sport. - 63
USA Today
The film is capably acted and somewhat inspiring. - 60
Variety
A slickly mounted slice of can-do nonsense. - 58
Entertainment Weekly
The cast, all around, is sterling. There's only one thing they don't need to bring back for the sequels, and that's the movie's appetite for every sports cliché there ever was. - 50
Village Voice
The appealing young man's tribulations are predictable, his triumph inevitable; while he gets respect, we get another Rocky-style dose of emotional uplift, cloaked in the usual game-day clichés. - 50
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Goal seems destined to be an ongoing soccer-themed soap opera, but it's one that only the game's biggest enthusiasts likely will find compelling. - 40
Austin Chronicle
Despite employing every cliché in the sports-movie handbook, Goal! The Dream Begins tells a reasonably engaging story.
