We have seen too many underdog sports stories to know the template – Next Goal Wins even gives us dialogues from one of those, Any Given Sunday. These involve a lot of anger, passion, injuries, and heartbreaks, in the way to that promised glory.
Taika Waititi doesn’t know much about soccer and professes to know even less after making Next Goal Wins. He's also less and less interested in Hollywood, a game he's already tempted to walk away from.