The sports themed movie "Goal! Youth" serves as a real warning for the emergence of pure and passionate football that Chinese football lacks. | Global | Movies
Recently, the parent-child inspirational film "Goal! Youth", starring a group of Xinjiang football youths and French football star Cantona, held its global premiere in Shanghai. The atmosphere of thousands of people watching the movie was lively, with Xinjiang football youth invited to the scene and legendary coach Milutinovic leading the Chinese men's football team to the World Cup, along with his disciple Xie Hui, appearing, pushing the atmosphere to a climax.
It is reported that "Goal! Youth" will be online in various theaters across the country before Father's Day, which is very suitable for parents to watch with their children and experience the teamwork, healthy life, and sportsmanship hidden behind football.
Refusing match fixing reflects the discipline of football rectification
At present, relevant departments are rectifying and improving the system of Chinese football, demonstrating their determination to use strong medicine to treat diseases and rectify chaos, aiming to comprehensively build a good ecological environment for the healthy development of football. The plot at the beginning of "Goal! Youth" is so relevant to the current situation of Chinese football——
The legendary number 7, played by renowned Manchester United star Cantona, coached Shanghai Eagles, who won the championship one round early and played their last league away game against the bottom ranked Xinjiang team. As an investor in the team, the club president played by Chen Baixiang actually requested the head coach Cantona to cooperate in fixing the game, intentionally losing
Kantona, with his straightforward personality, not only refused the unreasonable demands of his boss, but also led the team to win the game and fiercely planned to manipulate the results of the game. This caused heavy losses to the behind the scenes betting players. Afterwards, Cantona was slandered and bribed by the club president, and was even framed by gang members before being sent to the desert to "destroy his body"
The film tells the story of a football coach played by Kantona who accidentally falls into a remote mountain village in Xinjiang. He is moved by a group of Xinjiang children's passion and dreams for football, and together they encourage each other, leading the children out of the village and towards victory. In addition to Manchester United star Cantona, the film also invited celebrities such as Chen Baixiang, Jiang Wenli, Qu Jingjing, Huang Jianxiang, and Milu to join.
The film extensively selected over 2000 professional football players from Xinjiang, and after several months of selection and training, it finally created the Magic 7 football players in the film. Under the leadership of international football star Cantona, they successfully kicked out of the boundless desert of Xinjiang, arrived at the bustling modern Shanghai beach, and finally won the championship trophy, heading towards a broader world. The film showcases the beautiful natural scenery of Xinjiang and the urban landscape of Shanghai, making it a great promotional film for Chinese scenery.
It is reported that this parent-child inspirational film took 7 years, and it is full of the most scarce characteristics of Chinese football: genuine respect, awe, and pure love for this sport.
Milu participates, insisting on dreams requires purity
To Kantona's surprise, one day he will appear in a movie about Xinjiang children and Chinese football for zero pay in Xinjiang, China; Milu, who once led the Chinese national football team to reach the World Cup final for the only time, may not have expected that although he only made a cameo appearance in the film, he still came from Qatar to Shanghai to make a name for himself and become the main character in the promotion.
After the premiere at the Shanghai Cinema, Milu appeared together with three Shanghai national football disciples, including Xie Hui, and the audience shouted "Ye Qing Hui". Milu said he has a strong connection with movies. When he coached the Chinese national team to compete in the semi-finals of the 2002 South Korea Japan World Cup in the Asian region, he played sports movies to motivate his team members. Milu hopes that the football themed movie "Goal! Youth" will encourage the new generation of young people to pursue their dreams and embrace friendship; He also hopes that more parents need to attach importance to the sports development of teenagers, accompany their children to participate in sports, and leave valuable parent-child time and growth memories together.
Milu has led five national teams, including Mexico, Costa Rica, the United States, Nigeria, and China, to qualify for the World Cup. He is a magical coach who has led his team to compete in the World Cup five times in a row. As early as 1977, Milu led a Mexican club team to play international friendly matches in Shanghai, and had a special connection with this city.
At the premiere, there were hardcore fans and fans rushing from Jiangxi to Shanghai with their children just to catch a glimpse. Milu specially invited this staunch fan and fan to come on stage, warmly embrace and take a photo with him. Milu praised, "When I grew up, I didn't have a father to accompany me. Fathers around the world spend less time with their children. However, 'Goal! Youth' is particularly suitable for fathers to take their children to watch, encouraging more fathers to spend more time with their children and actively express their love for them."
Milu smiled and said, "Although I only appeared for 2 minutes in the film, every time I return to China or Shanghai, it always brings back beautiful memories for me, including the wonderful moment when I and the Chinese national team first qualified for the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan. We succeeded because we had excellent coaches, players, and management personnel, and also because we had fans who always supported us!"
At the movie screening meeting, Milu also asked the on-site fans what they learned from the movie? Some fans answer "dreams", some answer "hard work", and some think it's "unity". Milu believes, "Growing up means experiencing difficulties and setbacks, but to become a person with dreams, perseverance, and integrity, one needs to put in more effort and have a stronger belief. Whether you are a fan or not, you can experience purity and emotion in this movie."
Not only movies, but also practical support for Xinjiang football
As the producer of this movie, Tao Yejian was originally an advertiser, and his company was also an advertising company. Of course, he is also a seasoned fan. He never expected that as an advertiser, he would eventually bring football to the movies.
He never expected that due to the pandemic, the major earthquake in Chinese football, and distribution issues, this movie, which started filming in 2017 and was originally scheduled to be released during the 2018 World Cup in Russia, would not have a chance to be released until the summer of 2023.
After completing this movie for 7 years and spending over 50 million yuan, Tao Yejian is now very concerned about box office. "We don't think much about box office anymore. It's enough to make more children and families feel the power of football and dreams," said a source. "Losing money is definitely losing, but whether it's our company, Cantona, or these football kids, we feel that we have done something very meaningful."
This movie is actually changing the lives of many people. Billy, from Xinjiang, originally relied on his solitary courage and raised funds to film a documentary about Xinjiang football. By chance, he participated in the collaboration and completed the movie "Goal! Youth". During the filming process, Kantona and his agent brother kept nagging - there are so many football players with potential in Xinjiang, and you can't just finish the movie. You need to establish a football agency to provide help and services for their growth.
So, this company, which used to do advertising, has now entered the football agency business - Yepai Sports was born. Now, Billy's job is not to make documentaries, but to become an agent for many promising Xinjiang players. Yepai Sports has multiple professional players from Xinjiang, and Muta Lifu, who plays for Chengdu Rongcheng, is one of them.
Picture: Presenting the Liberation Daily · Shangguan News Cultural Souvenir to Milu.
"We basically focus on serving Xinjiang players, which is our advantage." Billy introduced that there are many children playing football in Xinjiang, "and they cannot all become professional players. Some can enter the campus football system as coaches, some can become referees, and some can use playing as a hobby to continue our education path. By establishing a football agency, we hope to explore more promising stars in Xinjiang football and make development plans for those children who cannot become professional players."
Tao Yejian brought Ye Pai's youth training to Pinghu City, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, and also to some schools in Shanghai. Yepai Youth Training has established close ties with the French club Auxerre. They are rooted in Pinghu and have conducted youth training in fifteen or sixteen local schools, benefiting thousands of children. This year, they have selected the best few children to go to Auxerre Club for trial training and stay. In Shanghai, many young coaches from Xinjiang have walked into elementary school campuses and participated in campus football activities. "We were a bit worried that Shanghai students might be a bit unfamiliar and skeptical about our Xinjiang coaches, but the reality is that the children are very welcoming to us."
