American Samoa national team.
In 2001, the American Samoa soccer team suffered a record setting defeat to Australia, losing a brutal 31- 0. A decade after the humiliating defeat, the team remained at the bottom of the FIFA world ranking and had never won a competitive match. In an effort to improve their play, and score at least ONE goal, the American Samoan team turned to the U.S. Soccer Federation to recruit coach Thomas Rongan. Thereafter, Rongan helped turn the team around with some surprising results on the field and in the record books.
Timmy Lu and Harjit Singh Gill, who run the website http://pickedlastsports.com, a site about fan perspectives on sports as well as politics, talk with members of the American Samoa soccer team who are featured in the documentary Next Goal Wins. On the phone in New York following the film’s world premiere at the Tribecca Film Festival, we have defender Jaiyah Saelua, and in Tacoma, Washington we have goalie Nicky Salapu.
The film is showing at the Roxie in San Francisco.
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