Soccer Films: Review of "Goal Dreams"

Set against the backdrops of Ismailia (Egypt), Gaza (Palastine), Beirut (Lebanon), Doha (Qatar), and Santiago (Chile), Jeffrey Sauders’ and Maya Sambar’s Goal Dreams, documents the Palestinian national team’s attempt to qualify for the 2006 world cup in Germany.

Only recently recognized by FIFA (1998), the team’s existence rests heavily on its ability to gather talent from the (largely unknown) Palestinian diaspora – some players come from as far as Chile, where the domestic soccer league includes the Palestino team – as well as the few domestically based players who spend much of the film seeking to cross the Israeli controlled border into Egypt in order to attend the team’s training camp.

Much of the film centers on the inherent conflict caused by the hasty aggregation of players of Palestinian descent from disparate cultures, as well as the added “leadership” provided by Alfred Riedle, the slightly naïve, yet experienced Austrian coach, whose on-field instructions are often butchered by a Palestinian translator who doesn’t seem to have great command of the English language (a fact that is emphasized by Morad Farid, a New York City based player).

The Palestinian “melting pot” gains new momentum when the Gaza based players are finally able to join the rest of the team fifteen days into training camp. The Gaza players, who are represented by the goalkeeper, Ramzi Saleh, bring with them the inexorable burden of having to deal with the casualties of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is evidenced in what is perhaps one of the film’s most affecting scenes. Faced with frowning players at the beginning of a practice, Riedle attempts to make a joke at their expense, only to realize that they’d recently heard that five of their friends had been killed in an Israeli air raid. Instead of trying to provide some comfort to his players, the Austrian shockingly scolds the players for not informing him of the event beforehand, highlighting the disconnect between the “mercenary” coach, and the lives of his Gaza players.

Goal Dreams finds its climax in Doha (unable to play in Palestine, the team depends on surrogate home fields), where the team is to face the Uzbek national team, in what is the decisive game for Palestinian hope of qualification. Oil-rich Qatar is a serendipitously fitting setting for such a game, as it contrasts the deep divide between one Middle-Eastern country’s incredible wealth, and another’s dilapidated state.

Almost by default, movies that revolve around emotionally charged content of this sort run the risk of self-destructing by appealing too much to sentiment. However, Saunders and Sambar cautiously steer clear of dripping sentimentality by breaking up emotive content with cleverly placed comic relief provided by Riedle and his adjusting players. As such, both filmmakers produce a film that captures not only the trials of running a fledgling national team, but also the desire to establish a Palestinian identity that is so conditioned by external influences.