The Underdog, the Comedy Act, the Blockbuster: If This Year’s World Cup Teams Were Movies - The Hollywood Reporter

Some of the greatest films ever made have taken on the euphoria — and heartache — of sport: Raging Bull, Hoop Dreams, the recent Challengers all come to mind. While many of them have dared to capture what soccer in particular means to its 3.5 billion fans (Bend It Like Beckham, anyone?), few have succeeded in satisfying the globe’s largest sports following. With the World Cup managing to get even the Americans amped up about the beautiful game, The Hollywood Reporter has decided to cast a wider net. We’ve narrowed it down to 10 movies — a few of them sports-themed, most of them not — that best encapsulate some of the competing teams this year. With the knock-out stages officially in full swing, THR wonders: Which melancholy movie character is Cristiano Ronaldo, which World Cup nation best embodies the Rocky spirit, and who’s this tournament’s Alan Partridge? The quintessential American story: A big personality with big dreams who thinks they can make it on chutzpah and conviction alone. The talent might be there (topping Group D counts for something), but so is an inflated sense of self-importance — and a pretty flagrant disregard for its neighbors (co-hosts Mexico and Canada). They’ve managed to drum up some buzz through solid performances, though soccer — and ping pong — are not the nation’s favorite sports. And the real achievement is scoring a ticket to play overseas: 19 out of 26 in the USA World Cup squad are signed to international clubs.