Goal! The Dream Begins

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Goal! The Dream Begins

PG

2006

2h 1m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

43%

Tomatometer

81 Reviews

77%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

Santiago Muñez, a Mexican cook in Los Angeles, gets a chance to follow his dream of playing professional soccer. A talent scout with contacts in the United Kingdom spots him and offers a once-in-a-lifetime chance: If he can find a way to England, he can try out for the Newcastle United team. Gavin Harris, a star player, takes young Santiago under his wing and helps him prove himself to his disbelieving father.

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Critics Consensus

Impressive sports action sequences are the highlight, as the run-of the-mill story invokes every known sports movie cliche.

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Marjorie Baumgarten

Austin Chronicle

06/24/2006

2/5

The action on the field won't be enough to sate the most soccer-crazed viewers.

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Trevor Johnston

Time Out

06/24/2006

The combination of button-pushing uplift, sundry sweeping helicopter shots and a bombastic score that sounds like it came on a free transfer from a Tony Scott movie proves as resistibly synthetic as the CGI-enhanced heroics on the pitch.

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John Monaghan

Detroit Free Press

06/09/2006

2/4

Everything here is beyond predictable.

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Tom Dawson

The List

04/27/2019

2/5

Of the actors, it's Alessandro Nivola in the role of a playboy midfielder who provides Goal!'s most entertaining performance. It's a pity then that the world he inhabits in the film is depicted in such cartoonish terms.

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Leigh Paatsch

Herald Sun (Australia)

06/15/2018

2.5/5

There is a bulky bundle of sports movie cliches to sort through here if you do intend to follow the rise of wizardly soccer winger Santiago Munez (Kuno Becker)...

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Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

04/19/2009

B-

Director Danny Cannon ("I Still Know What You Did Last Summer") captures every bit of Kuno Becker's star quality although the committee-written script remains slack.

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Mark M

@RT96555914 02/10/2025

The movie's story is rather unconventionally conveyed but overall it's entertaining

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Jerod S

@jeroduptown 12/08/2024

Movies like this should make you want to play soccer when you're done watching them. This one was an uninspired foreigner playing ball in England.

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Herry S

@RT60627939 07/13/2023

Most original American dont understand to watch this film about English Premier League, This the best option to watch if you knew about all the E.P.L teams, I watch more than couple of times never be bored because more Football scene instead telling the story.

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03/22/2021

he kickada da ball in da goal... and i like dat

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05/20/2020

THE BEST SPORTS FILM EVER BEEN MADE! Period. Whoever says Goal is bad is either knows shit a bout football, or has watched too much bend it like beckham.

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r 9

@RT00952237 09/29/2019

Excellent two-film series. Note: 'Goal III: Taking on the World' is not an accepted sequel, it simply doesn't exist - literally, in RT's case.

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Danny Cannon

Director

Kuno Becker

Santiago Muñez

Alessandro Nivola

Gavin Harris

Stephen Dillane

Glen Foy

Anna Friel

Roz Harmison

Marcel Iures

Erik Dornhelm

The 5th Quarter

50%

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Synopsis

Santiago Muñez, a Mexican cook in Los Angeles, gets a chance to follow his dream of playing professional soccer. A talent scout with contacts in the United Kingdom spots him and offers a once-in-a-lifetime chance: If he can find a way to England, he can try out for the Newcastle United team. Gavin Harris, a star player, takes young Santiago under his wing and helps him prove himself to his disbelieving father.

Director: Danny Cannon
Producer: Mike Jefferies, Mark Huffam, Matt Barrelle
Screenwriter: Mike Jefferies, Adrian Butchart, Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais
Distributor: Buena Vista
Production Co: Lawrence Bender Productions, Touchstone Pictures, Revolution Films, Milkshake Films
Rating: PG (Partying|Language|Sexual Situations|Some Thematic Material)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 12, 2006, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $4.3M
Runtime: 2h 1m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital