IShowSpeed Retires: Why Did IShowSpeed Claim He Is Retiring From Soccer?

Darren “IShowSpeed” Watkins Jr. recently played in the “Match for Hope” Charity football match in Qatar where he represented Team Chunkz. It was a friendly philanthropic effort to fund EAA for their worldwide educational projects. Although a friendly match, most people and players expect a certain level of proficiency. Unfortunately, IShowSpeed, despite being a soccer fanatic, did not stand up to the expectations.

At the end of the match, the streaming sensation realized his subpar performance and went on to declare the unexpected. He apologized to his fans and claimed to quit football once and for all. The YouTuber was even seen visibly dejected at the end of the game before he turned to the camera and said, “Sorry you all, I apologize… I am quitting football alright you all. I’m quitting, that’s it. I think I am done with this football sh*t, I think I am done.”

The award-winning streamer has been watching and playing football for several years now. He worships Cristiano Ronaldo as his idol and plans on performing like him one day. However, his performance during the Qatar charity match showed otherwise. The public widely disliked Speed’s poor performance. He had terrible ball control skills and couldn’t even shoot the ball properly. On top of it, he even failed to score in an open net at least twice.

Owing to Speed’s unexpected performance, fans chose to heavily diss the streamer. People urged him to quit the sport and insisted on sticking to what he does best. A commenter if he even player football seriously enough to justify a “retirement.” Another Twitter user was finally happy because he would not ruin future charity matches. However, a few fans seemed supportive and asked him to follow his idol’s path and train regularly to become the best.

IShowSpeed’s reckless tackle had fans urging him to leave soccer

Although “Match for Hope” was a charity match, players are always expected to abide by the rules of sportsmanship. In a sport like football, attempting reckless challenges can lead to serious injuries. Keeping that in mind, IShowSpeed went on to slide tackle Kaka, a popular Brazilian footballer from behind. The tackle was extremely dangerous since it was a studs-up challenge and could have led to Kaka getting severely injured.

In football, a slide tackle from behind is completely prohibited owing to the injuries it can cause. If attempted in professional football, players would earn themselves a red card. The YouTube streamer was lucky that he did not injure Kaka and just earned himself a yellow card. However, this incident showed just how dangerous it was to play against Speed.

Naturally, Speed’s reckless challenge faced widespread backlash from the online community. Not only were they disappointed by the streamer’s poor performance but some worried that he could pose a threat to other footballers. People requested to get the streamer banned from the sport immediately and forever. Interestingly, some Twitter users claimed Speed played like a villain and they even called him crazy for attempting such a challenge. Fans also requested authorities not to allow him to play with legends like Kaka as he did not know anything about the sport.