The US Men’s National Soccer Team and the Mexico Football Team are both gearing up in hopes of impressing in the 2024 Copa America.
But before the big bonanza begins in the USA, the players from these respective teams have been the focal point of a discreet Easter Egg in ‘The Boys’.
The Boys is an Amazon TV series that just launched the beginning of their fourth season. Amazon released the first three episodes of their ultra gory, black satire on the ‘dark side’ of superheroes. The Boys has also taken a stark political turn in its latest season in an attempt to mock the current political climate in the USA.
That means featuring more fictional politicians and showing how some US politicians work to get things in their favor.
In one of the latest episodes, The Boys even makes a hilarious reference to a bunch of USMNT and Mexican players. But it doesn’t happen without a single reference to football (or soccer as they call it).
During a scene, some fictional US senators on the show are holding a vote call to pass a legislation. Basically, they’re trying to figure out which kind of people will help vote for a new rule that the senators want to pass, those who will vote against and those still undecided.
While most people probably failed to give much attention to the names on the board, on a closer look – it appears that several footballers are cheekily named in the whiteboard.
On zooming in, a number of current USMNT players feature in the ‘Yeas’ category of the discussion for the vote call.
Some of the notable players include USMNT stars Christian Pulisic, Giovanni Reyna and Yunus Musah. What is surprising is that someone on the creative team must be an avid follower of the MLS (Major League Soccer) because of how many names are referenced.
FC Dallas midfielder Sebastian Lletget, Colorado Rapids’ winger Djordje Mihailovic, FC Cincinnati defender Matt Miazga, San Jose Earthquakes forward Jeremy Ebobisse, Portland Timbers goalkeeper James Pantemis, Austin FC forward Gyasi Zardes to name a few.
Other names include Borussia Monchengladbach forward Jordan Pefok and West Brom forward Jeremy Ebobisse.
While mostly American footballers are mentioned in the ‘Yeas’ category, there are a lot of Mexican names European names on the ‘Nays’ (or no) side of the board too.
Quite a few notable Mexico players are named in here, including ex-Real Betis star Andres Guardado, Deportivo Toluca man Alexis Vega, Club America defender Miguel Layun and even Mexico’s former all-time highest goal-scorer Jared Borgetti.
This ‘Nays’ side of the board includes a lot of well noted European players.
The names of Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney, Jordan Pickford, Jadon Sancho, Marco Asensio, Marco Verratti, Sergio Busquets, Ciro Immobile, Sergi Roberto, and Jesse Lingard can all be seen in the right side.
Some Chelsea fans have also noted how a number of their current players’ names are on the board – including Reece James, Ben Chilwell, Levi Colwill, and even former midfielder Billy Gilmour.
What is really amusing about the way these names have been mentioned as an Easter Egg is that only the surnames of players have been noted. Hence, it doesn’t really make a direct reference to any famous sportsperson at all.
Having mostly European or Mexican players named in the ‘Nays’ section indicates that the fictional politicians don’t expect votes from immigrants – while they’re sure the patriotic Americans will definitely vouch for them.
The Boys creator Erik Kripke hasn’t really noted in any interview about his love for soccer, but fans are confident than some co-writers on his creative teams are probably big football fanatics.
Some of the mentioned names will probably find this Easter Egg really funny and be delighted to be mentioned in a popular show like The Boys.
It remains to be seen if the showrunners are able to actually rope in any of these footballers or notable sportspersons to have a cheeky cameo on the show in the near future – even if ends with them being ‘eliminated’ in the goriest way possible.