The Goal Trilogy

I am partial to a bit of footie, I got into it after the euphoria of Euro 96 and I have been hooked ever since. Whether it's the Premiership, battle for the FA Cup, Champions League or the golden heights of the European Championships or the World Cup. Goal!: The Dream Begins was released in 2005 to a lot of publicity mostly due to the appearances of David Beckham, Raul, Zinedine Zidane and Alan Shearer. The story goes like this; poor boy who is crazy about football moves with family from Mexico to Los Angeles and gets spotted by a talent scout. He scores a trial at Newcastle and after a successful stint is given a contract. Meanwhile he meets and falls in love with a gorgeous nurse. Santiago Munez played by Kuno Becker is the lead in the film and his girlfriend, Roz is played by Anna Friel. Goal! 2: Living the Dream takes off with Santiago now the star of Newcastle Utd with every team in the world keeping their eye on him. Despite his rock star status at Tyneside he cannot say no Real Madrid when they come knocking. On the personal front he has never been happier, he and Roz are all loved up and engaged to be married. Santiago is an immediate hit at Real Madrid and his style of play fits right in with the likes of Beckham, Zidane, Raul, Ronaldo and Carlos. However the fame gets to Santiago's head as he starts to indulge in the good time which begins to effect his performance on and off the pitch. His relationship with Roz is on the rocks and he is in hot water with the team. Then a face from the past comes back to haunt him. Goal! 3: Taking on the World has a very different focus, for a start it is not just about Santiago but also focuses on the lives of two English players, Charlie played by Leo Gregory and Liam played by J.J. Feild as well as their savvy agent, Nick played by Nick Moran. Charlie and Liam have made the squad for the English team and are on their way to Germany to bring back the cup. Charlie is an optimistic lad with a soft heart who has fallen for Sophia who is a famous actress while Charlie is a hard partying and hard drinking guy who is coming to terms with the fact that he has a young daughter from a past girlfriend.

Goal is played out on the domestic stage, Goal 2 is set on the European stage and Goal 3 is on the highest platform of all - the World Cup. The films really do give you a real idea of what it is like to be a world class footballer and the trappings that go with it. Fame, adulation, fancy cars and designer clothes and on the flipside the media intrusion, the pressure of having to perform week in week out at such a high level. The remarkable thing about the Goal trilogy is the way it merges fact with fiction; all the football events that take place are real and of course real football players are feature but in addition to the fictional character of Santiago and Gavin Harrison. The matches are magnificent and played out on a really large scale with close up to shots all to a thumping soundtrack. The directors did themselves a great service by getting FIFA on board which allowed them access to the top class footballers. The contrast between the fantasy glam world celeb football land is contrasted with the cutting British humour. Rather Rocky(esq) in its feel, the Goal trilogy really is an enjoyable trilogy which will please both men and women. Guys will love the football action and ladies will like the love story.

Check out the trailer of Goal: The Dream Begins below.