With the international break on, and the nights getting darker, we’ve selected three films to give you your footballing fix on an evening.
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00:00 Victory, or Escape to Victory, is a 1981 football film set during the Second World War.
00:08 Starring household acting names such as Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone and Max von Sydow,
00:14 alongside footballing legends including Pelé, Subobie Moua and Ozzy Ordiles, as well as
00:20 much of the Ipswich Town Team of the time, it tells the story of a group of Allied soldiers
00:26 in a German prisoner of war camp, who are ordered to play an exhibition football match
00:32 against a team representing Germany.
00:35 The Allied POWs then attempt to use the match, which was played in France, as a means to
00:41 escape imprisonment.
00:43 If you're looking for a combination of sporting films and war films, then this might just
00:47 be absolutely perfect viewing for you.
00:52 Escape to Victory was not the first venture by Sylvester Stallone into the world of sporting
00:57 cinema.
00:58 In 1976 he had starred in the first of the Rocky films, which of course went on to be
01:02 famous across the globe.
01:06 Next up we have Goal, The Dream Begins.
01:09 Mexican actor Cuno Becker plays the leading role of a young Mexican called Santiago Munez
01:15 living in Los Angeles, working two jobs just to make ends meet.
01:20 His only escape is football, despite his father's cynicism towards it.
01:24 Having been spotted by an ex-professional, he travels to Newcastle in England to be given
01:29 a trial at Newcastle United to see if he has what it takes to make it as a professional
01:34 football player in the Premier League.
01:37 He encounters challenges, heartbreak and romance along the way in this 2005 film set on location
01:44 in Newcastle and featuring football names such as Alan Shearer, David Beckham, Zinedine
01:49 Zidane and Raul.
01:51 It was directed by Danny Cannon.
01:56 In 2021 Newcastle United signed a young player on loan in real life called Santiago Munez,
02:02 who was also from Mexico.
02:05 Several comparisons were made between this and the film, although unfortunately for Munez
02:10 he did not live up to the fictional story of Munez.
02:13 And Newcastle United did not make his loan move permanent in 2022.
02:17 Finally, starring Will Ferrell, there is Kicking and Screaming, a feel-good comedy about a
02:23 son trying to get out of his father's shadow, both in terms of football and life itself.
02:29 When family relationships are strained, football is the only way to settle them, as father
02:34 and son go head to head as coaches of boys teams in the United States of America.
02:39 With the help of some brilliant Italian players, Will Ferrell's character, Phil Weston, gives
02:44 himself a chance of defeating his father in the deciding match.
02:48 This one is sure to make you laugh out loud along the way as it reaches the final showdown.
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