\n\t\u201cSummer of \u201994\u201d documentary filmmakers Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker joined U.S. soccer figures Alexi Lalas, Ed Foster-Simeon and John Harkes at SXSW for a panel moderated by Variety in partnership with Imagine Entertainment, to reflect on the legacy of legendary soccer coach Bora Milutinovi\u0107.<\/p>\n
\n\tMilutinovi\u0107, who now lives in Qatar working with the Qatari Soccer Federation, was absent but frequently referenced. \u201cHe sends his love via many, many emojis that make no sense,\u201d LaMattina joked.<\/p>\n
\n\tDiscussing their experience interviewing the famously enigmatic coach, LaMattina said, \u201cThese guys had given us sort of an impression of him as he is very hard to understand\u2026 and I think that was 100% true. But I was actually really struck by his warmth and his love for the players.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWalker also recalled the confusion during filming. \u201cI\u2019m standing there going, \u2018I don\u2019t think we\u2019re getting anything. I don\u2019t understand anything that he\u2019s saying,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then we get the footage back in the edit and you realize that he is answering the question in a much more poetic way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThat unconventional style, the panelists agreed, was central to Milutinovi\u0107\u2019s philosophy. Former player Lalas attested to his focus on building \u201cthe best collection of players,\u201d not simply the most talented individuals, using constant tests to shape team chemistry and confidence.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe discussion also turned to the present where Simeon, of the U.S. Soccer Foundation, highlighted the \u201cYes Coach\u201d initiative. He noted that \u201c16 million kids in this country don\u2019t have a mentor,\u201d and that coaches are critical figures in addressing youth isolation and mental health challenges.<\/p>\n
\n\tFor LaMattina and Walker, the documentary serves as both a tribute and a call to action. \u201cThe approach to this film was that we wanted to cement their legacy,\u201d LaMattina said. \u201cBut we also really wanted to make it a rallying cry. To show that what this U.S. team can achieve can really be beyond what we can imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cSummer of \u201994\u201d documentary filmmakers Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker joined U.S. soccer figures Alexi Lalas, Ed Foster-Simeon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,134,330387,344],"class_list":["post-685638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-imagine-entertainment-sxsw","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}