GOAL 3: TAKING ON THE WORLD

GOAL 3: TAKING ON THE WORLD

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Review

In the third installment of the football drama trilogy Goal!, Kuno Becker returns as Mexican footballer Santiago Munez, who, along with his best friends and England national team players Charlie Braithwaite (Leo Gregory) and Liam Adams (JJ Feild), are selected for their respective national teams at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals in Germany. This time round, Munez is not the main character of the film (he has very little screen time) with that role going to Liam Adams and Charlie Braithwaite.

However, as the three attend the shooting of a film Braithwaite is featured in, tragedy befalls them. All three best friends and Braithwaite's new love interest and soon to be fiancée Sophia Tardelli (played by Kasia Smutniak) suffer's a car accident which puts Munez out of contention through injuries. Meanwhile, Liam Adams discovers to his horror that he has a new daughter, Bella, from former love interest June (played by Anya Lahiri). This only adds to Liam's preexisting alcoholism and release from Real Madrid. It is revealed that Munez is set to return to England as a Tottenham Hotspur player under a two-year contract, along with Adams, who re-signs from Newcastle United, the original club of both ex-Real players. The film goes on to depict the World Cup from the English perspective. Liam scores against Sweden (2-2), assisted by a header from Charlie, and England successfully qualify for the knock-out stages. However, in the match against Ecuador, Braithwaite is injured, and later collapses in the changing room. Braithwaite is rushed to hospital, and dies on the way from an aneurysm (from the car accident). Italy beat France on penalties in the final to take home the crown of champions of the world.

England crash out of the quarter-finals against Portugal as Adams misses a crucial penalty against Portuguese keeper Ricardo while Cristiano Ronaldo converts. Despite the loss, the movie ends on a high note.

Also following the tournament around Germany in their St. George's Cross festooned camper van are the "Geordie Boys", whom we first met back in the first Goal! film. Providing the entertaining fans' perspective of the matches are Newcastle United die-hards Gordon (Mike Elliott), Foghorn (Christopher Fairbank), Walter (Jack McBride), and Phil (Craig Heaney) in their drunken, womanizing adventures in Germany.

Unlike in the first two films, Roz, Glen Foy, and Gavin Harris do not feature in the film, and all actual professional footballers are shown through stock World Cup footage. The sporting role of the actors' in this film is limited to the green screen. In selected scenes, an unknown bald man is used as a double for Sven-Göran Eriksson.