Proving you can play an LA derby almost anywhere and it's sure to be a classic, LAFC and the Galaxy faced off digitally in the LA Charity FIFA Challenge, raising more than $5k in donations and over 323,000 live views on Sunday.
In keeping with #StayHomeStaySafe campaigns, the virtual event featured LAFC's Martin "RemiMartinn" Oregel and Galaxy's Giuseppe "GGGodfather" Guastella in a home-and-home FIFA20 series commentated by LAFC's Max Bretos and streamed on Twitch. During the event, the clubs encouraged fans to donate online through the LAFC Foundation and Galaxy Foundation to support the fight against COVID-19 in the Los Angeles area - fans can continue to donate at lafc.me/donate.
The action on the pitch was intense as RemiMartinn kicked things off with a 3-0 away to the Galaxy. GGGodfather countered though with a 1-0 win away to push the series to a decisive third match.
Not to be outdone, LAFC fans shattered the club's original goal of $3,252 in donations less than an hour into the event. The stream peaked with a total of 16,675 viewers at one point.
What a way to win it! A @11carlosV special Most importantly what a stream where more than $5000 dollars were raised for a great cause to support the fight against #COVID19 HUGE thanks to @LAFC@LAFCGaming for making this possible and the @LAGalaxy for taking part pic.twitter.com/klpICnbnw4
— Martin Oregel (@RemiMartinn) March 29, 2020
In the finals minutes of the third match, GGGodfather held a narrow one-goal advantage. But RemiMartinn forced another tiebreaker match through who else but LAFC captain Carlos Vela in a 1-1 draw.
A winner-take-all fourth match was required. In that match, RemiMartinn and Vela picked up where they left off. Vela scored a hat trick to power LAFC to a 3-0 victory in the match and the overall win in the series. Not to be outdone, LAFC fans pushed the Club's donations to over $5k with a total of $5,210 raised by the final whistle.
