Eight great football movies

Longest Yard, this 2001 film has former profootballer Vinnie Jones playing England captain Danny Meehan. After a run-in with the law, he ends up in Longmarsh Prison where the governor wants him to coach the guards’ semiprofessional team.

By infusing the cliched win-against-the-odds movie with a cast of bizarre and memorable characters (notably Jason Statham’s madgoalkeeper Monk), terrific football sequences and a jet-black sense of humour, director Barry Skolnick propels the movie into the premier division.

It also boasts the best commentary team since Best in Show: ‘‘He’s ambidextrous.’’ ‘‘I don’t know about that, Bob, but he can use both feet.’’

It’s easy to see why this 2003 dramatisation of West Germany’s 1954 World Cup campaign is such a crowd-pleaser, particularly in its native country.

A former second-division footballer, director Sonke Wortmann has created a sometimes compelling, exceedingly charming but slightly cheesy tale of family upheaval and underdog spirit. The pitch action is some of the most realistic committed to celluloid.

A quite simply stunning 2006 documentary that chronicles the rise and fall of the New York Cosmos and the North American Soccer League. Gathering some of the world’s best players – Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff – thanks to the millions provided by Warner Brothers president Steve Ross, the Cosmos attracted record crowds for the sport in the United States.

However, infighting and a lack of results on the field led to it all falling spectacularly apart.

This Gary Oldman-narrated, 2010 documentary recounts England’s run to the semifinals of the 1990 Fifa World Cup. It was a performance that redeemed football in the eyes of a nation.

‘‘Revisit some fond and familiar sights – Gazza’s tears, Lineker’s goals, Bobby Robson’s rueful smile – and a handful we’d rather forget,’’ wrote The Independent.