This was a good movie, regardless of whether it was about soccer or not. The movie had good actors, and some surprise actors (Gavin Rossdale, John Harkes, etc.) and was a good "person" movie. It did do a good job of telling about the 1950 upset victory for the Americans, and it was good that it stopped right there and didn't include the following matches in that World Cup for the Amerians of losing to Spain 1-3 and Chile 2-6. So it ended on a good note. I actually had a comment about one of the user comments....the one gloating about his daughter's soccer team and how good they are because they are Arizona state champions. I have lived in Ohio most of my life and lately I have lived in Arizona....I am sorry to break it to him, but Arizona soccer is terrible. Teams in Arizona would get crushed by teams in Ohio. A state champion of Arizona is a mediocre Ohio team. Or MIssouri, or Michigan, or California, or Florida.

Very worthwhile movie. Almost excellent.The cinematography might have been a little rough around the edges, mostly the accents of the actors got into the way as I could hear them straining to keep it American and NY and St. Louis. Some like Rhys-Davis had a strong accent and I wondered why.And...some of it was sentimental--especially the type of music they played in the background. But it was a sentimental story. It was based on a true story and those are harder to make into movies.Maybe the viewers didn't actually see the melding of the various players into a team but that was because it was internal--in their hearts and minds. It definitely was there in full blossom when they were down to the wire. Very well done.I liked the way the team members received their uniforms. It was something we need to do in this manner much more often. Shhh, don't miss this part.However, the acting was good. The actual game they played was spectacular!!! I was excited and anxious and rooting for our home team. I have never been drawn into a movie game like that before.It is well worth seeing. In fact, if you are a Gerard Butler fan like I am, you will probably buy it. I would like to see a movie about how they made this movie!!! (How many takes did it take for the goalie to do what he did, for instance?) Sandy Shire

Belô is a small town?!Belo Horizonte is a capital of state. Today it has a population of 2,370,00 (www.ibge.gov.br). I don't know how large was BH in the fifties, and I know that it isn't a large city in any standard, by it certainly wasn't a small town."Mining city"?! Where this come from?!Well, in truth I can imagine the reason. The state of Minas Gerais, whose capital is BH, received this name (what can be translated as "General Mines") because it was her abundance in gold and diamonds which caused her colonization. Because of this name, everything related to the state is called "mineiro" (something like "miner"). There is "mineiros" writers, "mineiros" miners, "mineira" food and "mineiras" cities.Certainly the translator have confounded "cidade MINEIRA" (city located in Minas Gerais) with "cidade MINERADORA", a much usual form in Brazilian Portuguese which can be, this time correctly, translated as "mining city".

I'm sure the producers were hoping for "MIRACLE" on a soccer field- but a dream is only a dream. After viewing this film you will find soccer less exciting than golf. The director spends an hour introducing the characters many of whom are underdeveloped and others who are unlikeable. They introduce a negro player who the coach insists can't join the team but the next day he joins and no one offers an explanation as to why it was so easy for him to join but that's o.k. since the coach never explained why he couldn't join in the first place. John Rhys Davies plays the coach and if you find Davies a fairly lame actor you won't be disappointed he is dry and flat here as well. On to the big tune up game- well it was kind of quick and for some reason in the 2 minutes they show of the game they decide the center "must go!!". The audience knows not why since we never saw him play in those 2 minutes nor does the director show/ explain the importance of his role on the team (11 players on the field the center is the reason the team sucks you'd think this would be a nice time to touch on a few points about the role of center in soccer). On to the big game. The first half is 4 minutes then the coach comes in for a lame-o speech proving him the least inspiring leader written for the silver screen(kind of sad when you consider they had days into the shoot for dramatic rewrite- way to go MR. Director) the second half is 3 minutes and the film ends without the audience being lifted by the event! Perhaps the director should have spent less time under developing unlikeable characters and more time on the heart and soul of the game because there was no drama!!! no sign of exhaustion by the players no sacrifice on the field no sign of I assure you this director had no game plan taking on this project!! In fact he had less than that since the 1950 U.S. World Cup team had no game plan but walked away with a victory!! Not even worth a $5.50 walmart dump bin purchase. I gave it a 4 since I could at least see an effort- but it was a bad movie.