Thursday, November 28, 2019

MovieNotes: Six Dreams

Continuing my niche football documentary series viewing.

Six Dreams is my second foray into the world of Spanish football and La Liga after El Corazon de Sergio Ramos. But this series presents the flip side of the to the footballing royalty represented by the likes of Real Madrid and its star captain Sergio Ramos. 

The series follows six protagonists as they go through the ups and downs of the 2017-18 La Liga season. 
  1. Andres Guardado, captain of the Mexican National team who plays for Real Betis. An experienced campaigner who has played in 4 World Cups, he is closer to the end of his career. 
  2. Inaki Williams – the first Black player to play for Atheltic Bilbao. Somebody who is trying to fit in despite the discriminations he has faced in his career. He is rewarded with a call-up to train with the Spanish national team.
  3. Saul Niguez – a youngster playing for Athletico Madrid and the Spanish national side.
  4. Eduardo Berizo – who starts the season as Manager at Seville, discovers he has cancer during the season, then undergoes treatment and later hi ousted from the job. Ends the season with a new coaching assignment at Athletic Bilbao.
  5. Amaia Gorostiza – President of Eibar, the only female club president in La Liga. She has to deal with the business side of her small club, which continues to survive in the top league.
  6. Quique Carcel – Sporting Director at Girona, who are having their first season in the La Liga. And they go on to have the best ever finish for a debutante club in the league’s history, including a victory against Real Madrid.
Their paths keep crossing over the course of the season. The players are concerned about being fit, getting play time, scoring goals, trying also to be in national contention and sometimes looking out for a bigger pay cheque as well. The staff on the other hand try to ensure the business side of the game keeps running. For the smaller teams like Girona and Eibar, sometimes success can be disastrous as their players & coaching staff become hot properties on the transfer market! They have to keep searching for newer revenue streams. e.g. Eibar was the 3rd most popular La Liga club in Japan because they had a Japanese player. However, he is transferred to a new team who see the investment as an opportunity to get into the Japanese market. Coaches are under pressure from national squads at times, after all it’s a World Cup year! Then there are the personal tales of the players, how they came up to their current position and what they believe the future holds for them. And of course the superstitions – one of which forces the Amaia to wear yellow heels throughout the season!

Overall, it was quite an interesting watch. And a good promotion for La Liga, who showed that there is more to the League than Real Madrid & Barcelona. Although there are times when switching between stories gets a bit confusing, especially when two of these six come face to face!

Previously on MovieNotes: El Corazon de Sergio Ramos

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