football feeling Wrexham coming to America. Not only on the TV screen, but also on the pitch.
Welsh fifth tier team, has been a fan favorite ever since Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought it and launched a documentary series, “Welcome to Wrexham,” that will play Manchester United in a friendly on July 25 at San Diego State’s 35,000-seat Snapdragon Stadium.
“We were hoping to be the US team – sorry,” McElhenney said at Monday’s press conference, where he shared the podium with Andrew Cole, a former Manchester United player who is now an ambassador for the hugely popular team. fame, and former US national team star Landon Donovan, who is the co-owner and executive vice president of football operations of San Diego Loyal.
Wrexham will compete in a $1 million, winner-takes-all, seven-on-seven tournament in June in Cary, North Carolina. But the game against Manchester United in the US will be much bigger for many reasons.
“Not bad, not bad,” McElhenney said. “From the beginning we were very clear that our ultimate goal was to get to the Premier League, which a lot of people laughed at, but I don’t think they’re laughing at us that much now. The truth is, the system The system is ready for that to happen.
“We were hoping that at some point we would face Manchester United in the Premier League,” he added. “We didn’t realize it was going to happen in three years. Obviously this is a friendly. We were hoping that maybe in eight to 10 years we would actually be playing against the teams. you,” McIlhenney told Cole.
McElhenney said Wrexham will play other friendlies while in the US with specifics to be announced.
Reynolds and McElhenney take over besieged Wrexham in February 2021 and their documentary — about their journey, teamits fans and its city — premiering in August. Wrexham is the third oldest football team in the world and plays in the English National Football League, the fifth tier of professional football.
“I believe we can be America’s team because we don’t have to worry about regionalization, right?” McElhenney said. “I’m a huge fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, so American football, and obviously if you’re trying to grow that fan base in the US it’s hard because there are different regions where people have their own football team. So with an English football team, or a Welsh team playing under the English system, we don’t have to worry about that regionalization. So you can come in. from Des Moines, you could be from Minnesota, you could be from West Texas and be a Wrexham fan.”
McElhenney, who is wearing a Wrexham hat, said the team is constantly selling out of its gear and knows it has a fan base on this side of the Atlantic.
“We know there’s a lot of Americans, obviously we know the postal code, but also because a lot of baseball caps are on sale and it’s not a big market in the UK,” he said.
Some local United fans attended the press conference and McElhenney told them: “One more thing that I discovered about football is that you can have two teams. Because we’re so far apart. tournament – for the time being – you can have two teams. They will play hard. Maybe you can love our team too.”
The match is part of Manchester United’s summer tour of the US. A youth-focused team drawn from their tour, complemented by academy prospects, will face Wrexham in the framework of a week-long training camp in San Diego.
Cole said he hasn’t seen “Welcome to Wrexham” but knows the documentary is “spreading football. Football is a global game. Even if you don’t know about football, when it’s time for it to happen.” At the World Cup, everyone watches football. It’s a language, that’s football. around the world.”
Donovan said it was a big deal for this game to take place in San Diego, which is growing in stature in the football world.
“You could argue these are the two best football clubs, certainly by American standards,” Donovan said. “I’ll say this anecdotally – my wife knows nothing about football/soccer. She knows who Manchester United is and she knows who Wrexham AFC is now, probably because of the two cute guys who are program execution.”
On Saturday night, 30,854 spectators at Snapdragon Stadium – a record for the opening game of the National Women’s Soccer League – watched star Alex Morgan score from the penalty spot in the 88th minute of a 3-2 win. of the San Diego Wave before the Chicago Red Stars.
San Diego is tipped to match an MLS expansion team in December.
Associated Press report.
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