The international break may have closed the window on club football, but it has ushered in peak charity football season in the UK. On the same afternoon that a squad of Liverpool Legends take on a squad of Manchester United Legends at Anfield, a gaggle of well-known youtubers played a game of football for a good cause. Back after a four-year break, the Sidemen Charity Match raised thousands for a number of important charities. Played at The Valley in front of a capacity crowd, and viewed by millions and millions of people around the world on youtube, it also spawned a number of surreal football moments. The stand-out star was undoubtedly 17-year-old youtuber Speed.
The American teenager brought a demented energy to proceedings. He made it his point to target KSI, and "tensions" were palpable in the dressing room.
Speed barking at KSI 💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/jc005KKZfC
— Sidemen Charity Match Updates (@sdmnfcupdates) September 24, 2022
Speed's highlight reels
Speed then unleashed an ankle-breaking tackle on the British youtuber and occasional boxer just 16 seconds into the game.
— 🚀 (@TrustChalobah) September 24, 2022
One of Speed's "legal" tackles did however lead to an absolutely class goal by Beta Squad member of Chunkz.
SPEED BREAKS UP PLAY AND CHUNKZ SCORES A SCREAMER!!! pic.twitter.com/waC8Jm5GAZ
— 𝗧𝗲𝗻 𝗛𝗮𝗴’𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝘀 ✍🏼🇳🇱 (@TenHagBalI) September 24, 2022
Speed might have made a bigger contribution to the game if he had an understanding of how the offside rule worked.
PLEASE CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN THE OFFSIDE RULE TO SPEED 😂 pic.twitter.com/ZM7DdlfYRp
— Has the Referee or VAR made a poor decision? (@PoorEPLreferees) September 24, 2022
The similarities between Speed and Ronaldo were blatant and the comments section on the official youtube stream of the match was essentially people just discussing Speed.
Speed plays exactly like Ronaldo 😭 pic.twitter.com/IKavvxo9Ku
— @lapulgafreak (@lapulgafreak) September 24, 2022
Speed also had a second half goal ruled out and then showed ref Mark Clattenberg a yellow and whipped him with his jersey.
Speed hits the referee 😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/YqaADPISlq
— Matt (@Zvoii_) September 24, 2022
Speed also gave his thoughts on Clattenberg after the game and had no idea what a toad in the hole is.
He really left Speed confused 😭😭 #sidemenCharityMatch pic.twitter.com/ORq6NtqkAG
— Adam (@FGRAdam) September 24, 2022
The score was at 4-3 at halftime to the Youtube All Stars, and finished 8-7 to the Sideman. It was all for a good cause, with €500,000 raised by halftime.
You can watch the whole thing here.
Here was the Sidemen squad.
- KSI
- W2S
- Zerkaa
- Vikkstar
- TBJZL
- Behzinga
- Miniminter
- Mr Beast
- Karl Jacobs
- ChrisMD
- Pieface
- JME
- Lazarbeam
- Manny
- Randolph
- Callux
- Calfreezy
Meanwhile, here's Mark Goldbridge's YouTube Allstars side
YouTube Allstars:
- Niko Omilana
- Yung Filly
- Cal the Dragon
- WillNE
- Harry Pinero
- Chris Tyson
- IShowSpeed
- Noah Beck
- Deji
- Theo Baker
- Chunkz
- Jidion
- Castro
- AnEsonGib
- Chandler
- Danny Aarons
- GeorgeNotFound
The match was refereed by Mark Clattenberg.
