Highlights
- The FA Cup is a storied and exciting tournament that allows underdogs like Wrexham to challenge top teams.
- Wrexham has a troubled league history but has shown strength in the FA Cup, including knocking out Arsenal in 1992.
- Even though Wrexham is now a top team, they still face tough competition in the FA Cup, but the tournament brings excitement and memorable moments for their supporters.
It’s the oldest football competition in the world, and overall one of the most storied sporting tournaments still in existence, period. The FA Cup’s traditions set the perfect stage for dreamers, and on this Welcome to Wrexham episode, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney go on a rollercoaster ride as the Red Dragons pull off some amazing upsets.
As Welcome to Wrexham viewers might know by now, European soccer leagues are quite good at rewarding consistency throughout a long campaign since -without playoffs, at least- it’s hard to argue most times the best team doesn't come out on top. However, in contrast to that, Cup competitions carry all the excitement American sports have in the playoffs, with even the likes of Wrexham being able to challenge Manchester City, Arsenal, or Liverpool, should they make it all the way to Wembley.
To make things even better, despite their troubled history in league football, it turns out Wrexham does have some FA Cup pedigree, with the show having special guests reminisce on some of the clubs most exciting runs. That includes knocking out Arsenal at almost the peak of its powers in 1992, with English legend David Seaman appearing in the series to offer his take on that magical night of football.
Nearly 3 years into the Reynolds and McElhenney era, life at Wrexham has changed a lot. The Welsh club is no longer the underdog, but rather the big boys that most would expect to win the league, which is why seeing them go head-to-head against teams that spend three or even 10 times more on player salaries makes for some pretty entertaining matches.
This time McElhenney sits out the stadium experience, although he is still watching closely from his sunny Philadelphia on the same day his beloved Eagles are playing. It’s Reynolds’ turn on this episode, and “Giant Killers” does deliver on the promise of its title as Wrexham take on Coventry City and Sheffield United, two teams on the brink of promotion to the Premier League.
As always, Welcome to Wrexham does a fine job at explaining the basics for football newcomers, in this case the highly anticipated FA Cup draw that could pit the team against some of the best clubs in the world, such as the home of EA Sports FC 24 poster boy Erling Haaland. Lady luck is a bit kinder this time, though the gap between Championship caliber teams and Wrexham is still massive.
It really doesn’t seem like that’s the case once the ball starts rolling, with this episode featuring some of the best football action seen in the docuseries so far. One might be lured into thinking it’s the extra shine of the bigger more modern stadiums where Sheffield United plays, until the audience is reminded that this is the same old Racecourse Ground the Hollywood owners are trying to pretty up, perhaps with a little aid from the more widely covered tournament elevating the entire production value.
A seven-goal thriller against Coventry sees Wrexham make it past the third round of the FA Cup, though the game is not without its fair share of drama as Reynolds and McElhenney remember how the broadcast picked the worst moment possible to black out. Wrexham is a scrappy side, but even against better opposition, its star Paul Mullin proves to be a reliable goalscorer.
Welcome to Wrexham features a special guest this time, author and YouTuber John Green (The Fault in Our Stars), who also fell in love with football after agreeing to sponsor AFC Wimbledon a few years back. In Green, Reynolds has found someone who can relate to the experience of falling in love with the sport as a relative outsider.
Up next is Sheffield United, a current Premier League team, that was flying high by the time this second season of Welcome to Wrexham was shot. Despite the bitter taste of defeat, Wrexham’s bravery propels the team to fight for qualification up until the last few minutes when Sheffield’s experience ultimately proves to be the trump card in the cup tie.
In the end, this episode makes a convincing case for why the FA Cup deserves a chapter of its own in Welcome to Wrexham, it's a unique tournament that still shines in a world where domestic cups have lost some of their glamour. Reynolds utter disbelief after each goal and seeing Wrexham go back and forth with better teams is exactly what the people of this humble city would have hoped for when Deadpool came knocking at their doors.
Most experts currently can't see Wrexham making to the Premier League in less than eight or nine years, and that is in the absolute best scenario, but even if that dream falters, the FA Cup will always be here to gift their supporters more than a few nights they will never forget.
Welcome to Wrexham
Ryan Reynolds gets it, "out of all the unimportant things, football is the most important," and some FA Cup magic really goes a long way to prove that.