To legions of United States soccer fans, he is… Eagleman.
And she is… Wonder Woman.
A familiar sight at international matches, Eagleman (actual name: Marcus Cranston) and his wife Wonder Woman (Lila Asnani) are veterans of seven men’s World Cups and now, after a whirlwind 2024, are surely strong contenders for Wrexham’s overseas supporters of the year.
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The American couple’s interest in the Welsh club was first piqued by the acclaimed Welcome To Wrexham documentary series, and last week’s dramatic late win against Barnsley coincided with their fourth visit of the year. Considering they live a little over 5,000 miles (8,000km) away in Las Vegas, that’s impressive dedication.
“The plan when we first came over in February was to make one trip and that would be it,” says Marcus. “I’d enjoyed the show and loved how Wrexham reminded me of my hometown — an old mill town in Montana where the industry had closed down and led to hard times. That created something of a kinship.
“So, we wanted to come over, get a sense of the place and take in the Notts County game. We thought that would be that… but our first night in Wrexham changed everything.”
Having wanted to make the most of their first trip to Wales — Marcus, a retired United States Air Force colonel, has visited 135 countries, while Lila has ticked off 83 — the couple got in touch beforehand with The Declan Swans, a local band who were among the breakout stars in the first series of the documentary.
An invite was extended to a concert the band were playing locally the night before that League Two meeting with visitors Notts at The Racecourse. “The gig had already started when we arrived from Manchester Airport,” adds Marcus. “But the moment we sat down, everyone just started talking to us; asking where we were from, how we had got there, how long we were staying… they were also talking a lot about the team and the band. We just felt so welcome, so at home.
“Our plan was to attend the Notts game here (on the Saturday) and then Everton (an hour’s drive north from Wrexham, Sean Dyche’s men were home to Crystal Palace on the Monday night). I’d never followed a Premier League team but I’d taken an interest in Everton — and later Leeds, when they had a few U.S. players in the team.
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“So, I’d been thinking, ‘This will be my first Premier League game, something to savour’. But, after that first night and then the following morning bumping into Wayne (Jones, landlord) from The Turf and him also being so helpful, we cancelled the Everton game and came back here to catch the fans’ coach to Milton Keynes Dons (on the Tuesday), instead. We were all-in after that.”
The couple’s first visit also extended to the trip to Gillingham the following weekend, a sorry 1-0 loss that took some of the sheen off beating Notts 1-0 and then taking a point from a big promotion rival with a 1-1 draw at Stadium MK.
Well and truly bitten by the Wrexham bug, the couple returned for the final game of last season in late April, a 2-1 home victory over Stockport County and, following the club’s second straight promotion, were here again for the opening week of this one in August as Wycombe Wanderers were beaten 3-2 and then the 4-2 defeat at Sheffield United in the Carabao Cup first round three days later.
Last week’s 92nd-minute winner by Ollie Rathbone against Barnsley rounded off a year that has led to many new friendships being forged in north Wales.
“We know a lot of people here, including some who we showed around Vegas during last summer’s (pre-season) tour,” says Marcus. “We had pockets of friends based in this area through the military already. But they joke now that I have more friends here than them — and I live in the States.”
GO DEEPER
The story of Wrexham's 2024 U.S. tour: More rest, more excitement, more progress
Manaus, Brazil; June 2014.
The United States men’s national team, buoyed by a 2-1 win over Ghana in their opening World Cup group game, are due to face Portugal in match two. This is the fifth World Cup Marcus and Lila have attended together, but this time there will be a twist.
Lila plans to go to the match dressed as Wonder Woman, having been initially given the idea by her husband four years earlier when he had toyed with the idea of wearing a Captain America costume at the previous World Cup in South Africa. This leaves Marcus in something of a quandary.
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“Lila had worn the Wonder Woman costume to a party the previous Halloween, while I’d gone as Aquaman,” he says. “No way was I going to be Aquaman at a World Cup.
“So, when she said that night about having a costume for the World Cup, at first I’m thinking, ‘Oh, she’ll forget about this — it’s eight months away’. But then we got to the March, and she’s still talking about this costume.
“Eventually, I came up with the idea of wearing a mask, as that way, no one would know who I was. The decision was, ‘Which mask?’. In the end, I went for the most patriotic thing I could think of — the eagle.”
In time, Marcus’ costume would become an impressively bespoke affair, with customised Eagleman shorts and a USA team shirt. But, for this initial outing alongside Wonder Woman, the eagle mask and wings were the most eye-catching element. Nevertheless, Marcus felt hugely self-conscious.
“I’m really not comfortable at all come the day of the game,” he recalls with a smile. “I’m even carrying the mask under my arm in the cab, while Lila is already dressed.
“Then we got to the barriers, which were about a mile away from the stadium. The driver was like, ‘You’ve got to get out here, I can’t drive any further’. I’m now dreading this. I spotted some vans parked beside some gas station and nipped behind them to change, putting the wings on.
“By the time I came back out, the gas station attendants are all around Lila, asking for pictures, and I knew it was going to be OK.”
Eagleman and Wonder Woman proved a huge hit with supporters, the couple receiving so many selfie requests it took them a couple of hours just to reach their seats. At this stage, it was still going to be a one-off, but they had so much fun they decided to wear the outfits for the rest of the tournament.
Then the TV cameras panned around the crowd during the USA’s 2-1 round-of-16 defeat by Belgium and zoomed in on the couple. A Reuters agency photo featuring them also got published widely, cementing their new-found fame.
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“Since then, it’s been expected we wear the costumes,” Marcus says. “Sometimes, it’s not possible, due to stadium rules, such as at Wembley recently for the women’s international. We had people coming up, asking why I wasn’t wearing the eagle.
“Other times, Lila hasn’t had the costume at matches. Once, the girl sitting in front turned round and said, ‘My friends at home are watching on TV and want to know why Wonder Woman is not dressed up today’.
“The best one came, funnily enough, on our first visit to The Turf. This guy came up to me and said, ‘You won’t believe this, but I took a picture of you at the Wales-USA game’ (at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar). That was great.”
Marcus and Lila, who is originally from Malaysia, married in 1991, having met at Oregon State University as biophysics/biochemistry students. With their two daughters now in their twenties and having left home, the couple are free to travel more — though neither envisaged Wrexham being among their regular destinations.
“Our travel is usually built around the thinking, ‘Let’s do something new’,” Marcus says. “So, our last four international travels all being to Wrexham is totally the opposite of that. But we’ve loved it, especially as we were able to coincide the opening game of the season with watching the U.S. women at the Paris Olympics, and then the Barnsley game with Wembley a few days earlier.”
That goalless draw between European champions England and this summer’s gold medallists on November 30 also allowed Marcus and Lila to further spread the Wrexham word by inviting fellow U.S. fans to join them in combining the Wembley trip with the Barnsley match. A tour of Wrexham and its surrounding areas was also squeezed in.
“Club football is so different to international football,” Marcus says. “Especially as we (the USA) don’t have a centralised stadium so we play in a lot of different places and there’s a big gap between games, though with the same great core of fans there.
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“Now, with Wrexham playing at least once a week, I find myself listening to all the podcasts, building myself up to the next game, which we then watch at home. On a Saturday, that means 7am (kick-off) in Vegas, but that’s fine, as I get up early anyway.
“More challenging are the weekday games, with an evening kick-off in the UK (late morning in Las Vegas). I retired from active duty in 2014 — I was an endocrinologist (dealing with hormone-related diseases) with the air force. Since then, I’ve been working as a civilian for the department of defense in the programme that does medical assessments of applicants for military service.
“I start early, at 6am, so by 11am we have cleared out all the applicants, meaning it’s just (dealing with) paper. That means I can set up my laptop with the game on and do my paperwork in front of that.
“If you’d told me, just a year ago, I’d be building my day around supporting this team from thousands of miles away like this, I’d never have believed you. But that’s Wrexham.”
(Top photo: Wonder Woman and Eagleman at the 2022 World Cup; courtesy of Marcus Cranston)