In the days leading up to Wrexham AFC‘s third-round FA Cup match against Coventry City earlier this month, Ryan Reynolds wanted to believe an upset was coming.
For the Red Dragons, who play in the fifth-tier National League, a win against a team from the Championship — three levels higher on the English soccer pyramid — would stand as the team’s most significant achievement since the A-list movie star known for the “Deadpool” franchise and fellow actor Rob McElhenney (star and co-creator of FX series “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) secured ownership of the Welsh club in 2021.
“You always hope that you’re going to rout the big boys in some amazing fashion,” Reynolds told ESPN. “But honestly, I was hoping we would score.”
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When Sam Dalby scored to put Wrexham up just 12 minutes in, Reynolds’ nervous energy didn’t exactly go away. Watching from his New York City apartment — joined by his wife, actor Blake Lively, and their three young daughters — the early goal might have made the whole viewing experience even more stressful. Especially when a second followed just six minutes later and the idea of Wrexham getting through to the next round of the world’s oldest national soccer competition suddenly morphed into something that…
