Category: Documentary
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‘Untold: Hope Solo vs US Soccer’ (2024) or Hope Solo vs Herself?
In many ways, Hope Solo is a duplicate of the Tonya Harding story. Both athletes were products of the non-conformist Pacific Northwest, had a non-nurturing home life, were fatherless, and struggled economically. Both were determined not to be defined by their circumstances, but to rise above them and become champions. Of course, the reason you…
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A captivating tale of a youth tournament in ‘Kids Cup’ (‘Bortebane’ 2021)
The documentary Kids Cup (original title is Bortebane) follows 5 young footballers, ages 13-14, as they prepare for, compete, win, and lose in a huge international youth tournament known as the Norway Cup. If you’ve ever played in or taken your child to a travel tournament, as we call it in the USA, you and…
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Netflix shows what makes Club América so popular
Club América touts itself as the winningest club in Mexico. This 5-hour Netflix series is entitled Club América vs. Club América because it compares mainly the 2020-2021 season under Manager Santiago Solari with the club’s over 100 year history. Because if you are at the top, you often compete against yourself and your history.
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[Review] ‘The Playbook: A Coach’s Rules for Life’ (2020)
Click on my #Coaching tag, and you’ll see 24 documentary films and series that give insight on soccer coaches at all different levels. The stories range from youth to high school to Liverpool, Leeds, ManU, Barcelona, and Argentina. While I found something to learn in all these films, I highly recommend watching the Netflix series…
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‘Aussie Chuk-gu Dream’ (2015) – Koreans aspire in the land of AUS
Even though Aussie Chuk-gu Dream is almost 10 years old, it is a unique story of 1st generation South Korean immigrants trying to succeed at sports in predominantly White Australia. But if you don’t know much about being a minority, this documentary does an excellent job of showing how a Korean community can use sport…
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Why didn’t CONMEBOL watch ‘The Final: Attack on Wembley’ (2024)
The 2024 Euros were played this past month in Germany. For the second time in a row, England failed to win the Final, but at least the tournament ran fairly smoothly. It was just 3 years since the last Final, but if you’ve forgotten what happened at the 2021 edition of Euro Sunday, then let…
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Review: ‘Under Pressure: The U.S. Women’s World Cup Team’ (2023)
Under Pressure: The U.S. Women’s World Cup Team is a 4 episode series produced by Netflix. It follows several players as they agonize about making the USWNT roster for WWC 2023. Only 23 women can be selected. And after they’ve made the team, as any USSoccer fan now knows, that team turns in the worst…
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Review: ‘The Ladies with Style’ – ‘Banyana ba Style’ (2022)
The Ladies with Style (Banyana ba Style) was showcased at the BrandStorytelling 2024 event in Utah, which ran in parallel to Sundance. The event honored this film from first-time Director Caroline Brouckaert, because it so effectively melded entertainment, impact, and purpose, and because it was their first selection to get distributed by a major platform…
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Expressive animation in ‘A Game of Three Halves’ (2020)
A Game of Three Halves comes to us from Australia. It is a 5-part online series in partnership with Copa90, and each episode is 4 minutes long. I watched it as a 22-minute short film on Kanopy. The episodes are all abstract animations with narrated essays that depict Director Matthew Bate has directed some feature…
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‘Courts of Belonging’ (2024) – street soccer in Maine
Courts of Belonging is a 10-minute short film that expresses the benefits of playing soccer, facilitated by having a place to play. In Maine, the Kennedy Park futsal court creates a soccer melting pot, where migrants come together to enjoy the world’s game.
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‘Elijo Creer’ (2023) disappoints as Soccer Soul
For me, Elijo Creer (Soccer Soul on HBOMax) started off on the wrong foot, with a flowery travelogue about Qatar and the beautiful, sustainable, stadiums in the desert. I probably should have stopped right there.
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A perfect 10 – ‘Lionesses: How Football Came Home’ (2022)
When a football documentary is really great, it makes you root for and admire the players even though they are normally your opponents. As a long time USWNT fan since WWC 1999, I thought I would watch this docu and maybe learn a few things about England’s WNT, also known as the Lionesses. Instead, I…
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Choose to skip ‘Captains – The Chosen Few’ (2022)
A friend of mine had suggested watching the docuseries Captains, but I had not realized that there are 2 such docuseries on Netflix. This one, Captains – The Chosen Few, was released in 2022 and follows 6 national teams and their captains as they try to qualify for WC 2022 in Qatar.
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Thousands of flash-bites celebrate ‘Captains of the World’ (2023)
Captains of the World is the second of 2 docuseries on Netflix related to WC 2022 in Qatar. The first series, Captains – The Chosen Few, covered 6 teams and their captains during WC qualifying. This series covers the experiences of some of the 32 national teams at the tournament.
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‘The Ultimate Goal’ (2017) — inspirational behind the scenes
English footballer Dan Metcalfe has been the soccer coach to the stars of Hollywood, choreographing the soccer action and training the actors for many films such as Will Ferrell’s Kicking and Screaming and Amanda Bynes’ She’s the Man. In The Ultimate Goal, Metcalfe advances beyond an accessory role and adds Writer Director and Producer to…
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‘La Hija de Dios’ shows Maradona as a family man (2023)
I’m not sure why I watched the docuseries La Hija de Dios. I had resolved not to watch any more Diego Maradona films, and I was also put off by the title —The Daughter of God. But the 3-episode series popped up on HBO Max, and it was short, just 138 minutes total. So I…
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‘Ultras of Egypt’ (2018) – when revolution fails
Ultras of Egypt is one of those powerful films where, I watched it in the beginning of the pandemic and it made me so sad, I couldn’t write the review. The filmmakers interview participants from the Arab Spring of 2011, who refer to the 18-day protest in Tahrir Square as The Revolution.
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Review – ‘Higuita: The Way of the Scorpion’ (2023)
René Higuita is the kind of guy that Writer-Director Luis Ara would greatly appreciate. Higuita is a man who rose from poverty to celebrity but who knows the value of life, friendship, and passion for the game. In Higuita: El camino del Escorpión, his story is told in a well-orchestrated arc that gives you a…
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The Golden Goose – ‘Messi Meets America’ (2023)
When MLS announced Messi was joining Inter Miami FC, I admit I opposed the idea. Messi’s coming to MLS would be a black mark against and devalue his career. It would be the perfect encapsulation of MLS as a retirement league, I thought. Of course, Apple and MLS knew better, and it turned out that…