Lucky Loser

Lucky Loser (Thai: หมากเตะ..โลกตะลึง or Mak Tae Loke Talueng) is a 2006 Thai sports-comedy about a small, fictional Southeast Asian country's bid to play in the World Cup. Initially, the country depicted in the film was Laos, but because of concerns by diplomatic officials that the depiction of Lao players would be seen as offensive to Lao people, the film's release in May 2006 was cancelled. The film's production company, GMM Tai Hub, re-edited the film and reshot some scenes to remove any references to Laos. The name of the fictional country is Arvee. Plot Pong is one of the greatest football players Thailand has produced and he's a star in England's FA Premier League. But when there's an opening for coach of the Thailand national team, Pong returns in hopes he'll be named for the job. Instead, he is passed over in favor of a Brazilian coach. His Aunt Ming, a football fan and inveterate gambler, has just won the lottery and had intended on donating her winnings to the Thai team. However, when her nephew is passed over, she decides to give her money to a regional rival, the struggling team in neighboring Arvee. And she's able to convince the team officials to hire her nephew. So Pong is named coach of the Arvee side. He sets about filling the team's vacancies with players who display various talents. A man who catches watermelons becomes the goalkeeper. The town's aggressive dogcatcher becomes an attacking midfielder. A veteran striker, banned from the game because of his temper, is lured back in.