First look at Taika Waititi and Michael Fassbender’s NEXT GOAL WINS on The World Worst Soccer Team

Director Taika WaititiThe next film by is titled The next target wins, and tells the true story of the worst soccer team in the world. Thanks to EW, we get our first look at the movie, starring Michael Fasbender as a coach named Thomas Rongen, who in 2001 is recruited to coach the American Samoan soccer team in an effort to reverse the team’s on-field woes.

Waititi spoke about the film saying, “The story is about the worst soccer team in the world, who famously suffered their biggest defeat in an international match against Australia, 31-0, which is about a goal every four minutes. After having suffered that huge defeat, they asked the football federation to find a manager who could take them from the very bottom bottom of the FIFA table.”

The director spoke about why he wanted to take on this film project saying, “Years ago, I saw it and I couldn’t believe I’d never heard of this story before. I’ve never done a sports film before, and I I’ve really wanted to try it. It’s a sport I don’t know much about.”

He continued: ‘Rugby is the national sport in New Zealand, but it’s about underdogs and I love underdog stories. Most of my films are about people who live on the margins, or are a bit left out, and it fits perfectly. just right for me. It’s a true story, but it has all the elements that all great sports movies have. It’s basically the Cool Runnings of football.”

The film also stars the Samoan-New Zealand actor Oscar Kightley, who plays American Samoa’s soccer boss, and newcomer Kamaina, who plays player Jaiyah Saelua. Says Waititi: “Jaiya is a trans player, one of the stars of the team, and a large part of the film revolves around her relationship with Thomas Rongen.”

The next target wins even stars Elizabeth Moss as Rongen’s ex-wife e Will Arnet as a fictional football manager. “The big thing about making documentaries into movies is that often documentaries don’t have a villain, but you need some sort of outside force that threatens the team to give the story some stake. That’s what I’ve been conditioned to learning in Hollywood. It’s like, ‘Well, you can’t just have a story where nothing bad ever happens to anyone!'”

The film was co-written by Waititi and Ian Morris. The cast of the film also includes David Fane, Beulah Koale, Lehi Falepapalangi, Semu Filipo, Uli LatukefuAnd Rachel House. It will be released in theaters on April 21.