Offside (2006 Swedish film)

Offside is a Swedish film from 2006, directed by Mårten Klingberg and starring Jonas Karlsson, Torkel Petersson, Ingvar Hirdwall, Göran Ragnerstam and Brendan Coyle.

Offside
Directed byMårten Klingberg
Produced byChrister Nilson
Written byMårten Klingberg
Oskar Söderlund
StarringJonas Karlsson
Torkel Petersson
Göran Ragnerstam
Ingvar Hirdwall
Brendan Coyle
Tina Nordlund
Distributed bySandrews
Release date
August 18, 2006 (Sweden)
Running time
99 minutes
LanguageSwedish

Plot

Anders is a player of the Swedish soccer team Stenfors BK who also works as a local tourist guide while wearing an elk-like cap as extra work. He lives with his wife Åsa and their daughter Sara. Åsa works part-time with the economy at ICA, but has not had a full-time job for two years and wants to move to Gothenburg where there are full-time jobs. Sara is a teenager and dancer who takes part in dance shows with several other girls. She believes her dance shoes are bad and wants new ones. Additionally, she has a friend in Gothenburg who also dances. Anders and Åsa agree to move to Gothenburg if one of them gets a job there.

Stenfors BK is an old club that played in the top-tier league, Allsvenskan, 29 years ago. They're celebrating their 100th anniversary after this season. The men's team currently plays in the sixth division. After losing one of their home games, the leaders of the team tell them that they'll shut the team down if they get relegated. At that time, they were positioned next-to-last in their league. The women's team is doing much better, topping the second division and receiving twice as much attendance for their games.

One day, one of the men's team's players, Kent, who also works for the local municipality, convinces Duncan Miller to fly over to Sweden to help the team. Duncan Miller is an English former professional soccer player who played for Liverpool F.C. in the Premier League and scored the game-winning goal in two FA Cup Finals. After he arrives, however, it turns out that Duncan is an alcoholic who hasn't played soccer in over ten years. Duncan doesn't want to play, saying he's not fit, but after enough pressure from Anders he agrees to play their next game. He starts on the bench, but after being substituted onto the pitch, he deliberately irritates the referee and subsequently gets red-carded, resulting in his ejection from the game. The team ends up losing the game.

Åsa tells Anders one day that she's got a job in Gothenburg as economy assistant at ICA, but Anders wants to stay in their current location.

Prior to one of the team's practices, they spot two black-skinned refugees playing with a ball on the pitch. Impressed by their skills, they manage to recruit them to the team. Additionally, Duncan takes over as the team's head coach. In their next game, one of the refugees scores and they end up winning the game. Prior to the following game, however, the refugees are taken by the police to be deported from the country. The team's goalkeeper decides to drive after them, resulting in the team's manager taking over his position for the game. Prior to the game's start, one of their players is informed that his pregnant wife is giving birth, so he rushes to her. Subsequently, the team earns a walkover loss since they got too few players to start the game.

After Anders sells their television to afford the dance shoes Sara wants as her birthday present, Åsa complains to Anders that she's got nothing while Anders has got his soccer team. An emotional conflict breaks out and ends with Åsa calmly explaining the things that she misses the most – work colleagues and Anders. Subsequently, Anders decides to agree on moving to Gothenburg.

The team now has only one game left, and they have to win it in order to avoid relegation and being shut down. Impressed by the women's team, Duncan suggests to Anders that they bring in some women from their team to play with them. Initially, Anders is skeptical, but then decides to call the league's governing body to check that doing this is okay. They bring in three women to play their last game. Duncan wants to play them right from the start, but Anders wants to start them on the bench. Since they're one player short without the women, Anders, his teammate Tommy and Duncan go to a nearby shop and convince its cashier to join them for the last game. Their official goalkeeper is back for the last game, replacing the temporary replacement in the previous game. Kent promises the team that if they win the game, the municipality will reward them with a trip.

The game starts off badly, as the opposition goes to a 1–0 lead off a corner after Anders is pushed down in the box by the scorer. Going back to their dressing room after the first half, the Stenfors players nag about the missed foul leading to the goal. Duncan calms them down and inspires them to play because they love the sport, instead of being angry and depressed. In the second half, after earning a good free kick, Kent ties the game by deflecting the shot into the net with his head. The three women are then substituted onto the pitch. With only five minutes left of regulation time, after a good attack, Anders sends the ball onto the goal line. Annika outchases her guy to the ball and scores to give Stenfors a 2–1 lead. The team holds on to their lead and wins the game, securing their spot in the sixth division for the next season and saving the team's existence.

After the club's 100th-anniversary celebration, Anders tells Åsa that Duncan will remain in the team next season. The couple packs their stuff to prepare for their move to Gothenburg. As Kent promised, Duncan and his team go on a trip to Liverpool in England to watch a game with Liverpool F.C. Former Liverpool F.C. player Ian Rush appears in a cameo appearance doing a pre-game interview. Duncan walks down to Rush and points at his team's players. The film ends with a shot of Anders enjoying his time at the game.

Actors

Notes
  • Duncan Miller is a fictional character and has never played for Liverpool F.C. or any other football club.
  • Stenfors BK is a fictional football club and has never played in Allsvenskan.
  • Tina Nordlund appears in the film as a football player. She was a football player in real life too. She has played many times for the Swedish national team and for Umeå IK. She retired in 2002, because of anorexia nervosa.[1]

References
  1. Björn Malmström (2002-11-30). "Drabbad av anorexia - Nordlund lägger av". svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). SvD.se. Retrieved 2011-09-30.


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