Director: Kim Tae-gyun
2010, South Korea, 121 min.
After a series of pipedream ventures go up in smoke, retired professional soccer player Kim Won-kang visits East Timor. Here he finds barefoot children kicking a ball around on rocky fields. Realizing the country doesn’t have a single sporting goods store, he senses a new business opportunity. His get-rich scheme backfires when it becomes obvious that no one can afford athletic shoes or team jerseys. Sadly he decides to close his store. But before he does, he volunteers to teach the kids how to play soccer. Based on the true story of coach Kim Sin-hwan who took his East Timor team to compete at the International Youth Soccer Championship in Japan in 2004. (Some of the original team members make appearances in the film as older soccer players.)
