‘Next Goal Wins:’ Fort Lauderdale soccer figure Thomas Rongen biggest winner in new movie

Thomas Rongen thought he had seen it all throughout a soccer career that has spanned 50 years and included 27 stops ranging from Amsterdam to Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale to Minneapolis to Washington, D.C. to American Samoa.

But nothing prepared the 67-year-old Inter Miami radio analyst for seeing himself portrayed by acclaimed actor Michael Fassbender in the new movie “Next Goal Wins,” which Rongen describes as “Ted Lasso meets Cool Runnings.”

The movie, which opened in Miami on Thursday and is being released nationwide Friday, is director Taika Waititi’s adaptation of the 2014 documentary by the same name. It tells the story of Rongen’s short, but poignant, 2011 journey leading lovable underdog American Samoa through World Cup qualifying.

At the time, American Samoa had never won an international match, was ranked dead last among 204 FIFA nations and held the record for worst defeat in FIFA history (31-0 against Australia). Rongen, a Dutch American who has spent much of his life in Fort Lauderdale, led the team to its first victory, 2-1 over Tonga.

When the original documentary by British filmmakers Mike Brett and Steve Jamison came out at the Tribeca Film Festival, Rongen remembers someone saying to him at the theater: “One day I’m going to turn this into a real movie.” Rongen paid him no mind. Nine years later, Waititi (whose resume includes “Thor” and “Jojo Rabbit”) and Rongen shared the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival for the premiere of “Next Goal Wins” in September.

“How crazy is that?” Rongen said in an interview with the Miami Herald. “To go from a young 21-year-old playing for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, playing with all these world stars, including Pele, and fast forward to now, when I’m calling Lionel Messi’s games for Inter Miami, and there is a movie at the same time coming out with Michael Fassbender playing me. Life is good. No doubt about it.”

The story of how Fassbender, an Irish-German Oscar-nominated actor, got the role of Rongen still makes the coach chuckle.

“[Waititi] said, `I wanted one of my best friends to play you, Russell Crowe, but unfortunately, he’s overweight, so I’m going to have Michael Fassbender play you,’ and I was like, `Is that Magneto? [X-Man role played by Fassbender]. And he said, `Yes, he also played Steve Jobs’, where he was nominated for an Oscar… This film is a dramatic comedy, so it is out of his norm, but I have to say, he plays Thomas Rongen quite well.”

Rongen, who played for the Strikers from 1981 to 1983 and then again from 1988 to 1993, began his head coaching career with South Plantation High and Nova Southeastern University. He went on to coach MLS teams New England Revolution and D.C. United, and was the U.S. Under-20 national coach in late 2010 when he got a call from former U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati asking if he’d consider a part-time gig coaching American Samoa.

“I looked over at my wife and whispered, `Where’s American Samoa?’’’ Rongen said. “She said, `It’s near Fiji.’ I had never been to that region, so I said, `Yeah, I’m in!’ I then Googled them, and they were the last team in FIFA rankings, literally the worst team in the world, had not won a game or scored a goal in 20 years, so that’s what I was up against.”

Rongen knew the level of play would be low, “but as most Dutchies are, we’re travelers, we like to meet new people, different cultures, and we don’t see things as challenges but rather as opportunities.”

And so, he left for American Samoa in early 2011. It took three days to get there. Shortly after his arrival, he met the British filmmakers who were working on a documentary about what motivated the American Samoa players to continue proudly representing their country despite lopsided results.

Rongen loved the documentary. When the movie project began three years ago, Waititi warned Rongen he would take creative license with the film.

“He told me, `Thomas, I had to change a lot; otherwise, people might as well go watch the documentary,” Rongen said. “So, the film is maybe 20 percent of what actually happened.”

For example, in the movie, the Rongen character is an alcoholic, “which I am not,” Rongen said.

In the film, Rongen initially does not accept Jaiyah Saelua, a player who identifies as fa’afafine (an accepted third gender in Polynesian culture) and was the first transgender woman to play in a World Cup qualifying match. In fact, he says, he embraced her from Day One.

“She ended up being one of my better players,” Rongen said.

One of Rongen’s other favorite players was the goalkeeper, who had conceded the record 31 goals to Australia a decade earlier. He had retired, was living in Seattle, and Rongen sought him out and persuaded him to return to the national team.

“My son thinks I’m a loser,” the goalkeeper told Rongen, who replied, “I’m convinced we can win a game and your son will then think you’re a hero. He came back, and to me, those two players’ stories were more important to me than winning a game, allowing a transgender to play and allowing a guy that had tremendous scars to come back. He jumped in my arms after we won, and we both cried.”

Another aspect of the movie that is especially meaningful to Rongen is when Fassbender wears a Virginia Commonwealth University cap, a tribute to Rongen’s stepdaughter, Nicole Megaloudis, who died at age 19 in a car crash in 2004 during her freshman season on the VCU soccer team.

Rongen, who had suppressed his pain for more than a decade following her death, said he had a spiritual awakening during the filming of the movie in Hawaii.

He said an American Samoan ritual is a daily gong or bell that goes off at 4 o’clock each afternoon and everyone halts whatever they are doing to meditate or pray.

“People even get out of their cars and sit in the street,” he said. “It’s a beautiful thing. So, I joined them, and sat on the field. By the third day, my heart rate went down; and I was able to, as an atheist, become more spiritual. I finally was able to let go and mourn Nicole’s loss in a very healthy way. Those beautiful people and their culture were something I now know I desperately needed. It was the most rewarding experience of my life.”