When Juventus opened their pre- season to a 2-3 loss against Tottenham Hotspur in Singapore as part of their Asian tour participating in the International Champions Cup, some Juventini may have looked up for a short while at Harry Kane’s wonder goal in injury time, but most would not have blinked, this match having nearly no bearing whatsoever on the upcoming season. To some, it would have just been another meaningless pre- season friendly match.
Yet, this match will go down as one of the most significant sporting moment in my life thus far. Growing up a fan, Juventus found a place in my sporting soul, and has called my black and white heart its home for slightly more than half my life when I began supporting Juve aged 14.
It was 2002, when legends still walked the earth. A team fielding the likes of Alessandro Del Piero, Pavel Nedvěd, David Trezeguet, Edgar Davids, Antonio Conte, Lilian Thuram, Mauro Camoranesi and best goalkeeper of all time Gianluigi Buffon; marched on to the 2003 edition of the UEFA Champions League finals laying waste to Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid, where they then painfully lost out to Old Big Ears to eternal rivals AC Milan (who have since become a laughing stock of a club). It was in that fateful season that just another team became my team, a season where I joined the chorus of millions of fans around the world, united in support for our favourite football club.
My first Juventus jersey was the 2002- 2003 Fastweb one, which I’m not ashamed to say was a cheap market replica. Yet I wore it with pride, in support of Juventus. Growing up in a small city in the north of Malaysia away from the limelight of global traffic, and in a country where the English Premier League was the default foreign football competition, news featuring an Italian team were a scarcity, what more live matches. Local newspaper rarely covered Juventus, and internet articles were a pain to access off dial- up internet. Cable TV was way too expensive then, and fortunately, our local TV station decided it was profitable to broadcast the Champions League that year, riding on the footballing olé wave of the previous FIFA World Cup.
That was a godsend, as the subsequent years heralded increased attention to Italian teams, with the Serie A finally receiving half a page’s mention on local newspaper versus none the years prior. Then came the Calciopoli scandal which rocked Serie A, and sent our beloved Juventus down into the pits of shame and anonymity that is Serie B from which we quickly returned. Despite hostile and unsympathetic words of Juventus being a cheating club, I held true, and was heartened to see our heroes do the same. In some ways more than others, the relegation did us some good. It was a sobering moment to see enigmas leave the club for greener pastures. For each player that quit, more still stayed, and none more prominent than our future captains and later club management- tier personnel. Though we were beaten down and trampled upon, our fire was not extinguished. The way back up was swift but our return to glory was arduous, and we encountered uphill battles at nearly every turn. It was a trial by fire from which we finally emerged, marching into a new stadium, and an as yet ongoing record for consecutive Scudetti.
During that dark era post- Calciopoli, interest in Italian teams was still pitiful. According to well quoted football pundits with whom I strongly disagree, Italian football was a pale representation of its former glory days and was not worth the time and money anymore. As I grew more well- versed with the internet, I managed to leech off my neighbours’ faster internet connection, and find live- streaming websites that streamed miserable 360p quality feeds with Italian commentators yelling unintelligibly, but that was enough. I finally could follow Juventus matches week in week out. Due to the 6 hour time difference, most matches were deep into the night my time, yet I did not miss many matches. This also resulted in my falling asleep midway through a term exam!
Years have gone by since then, with my work bringing me to Singapore, yet my support for Juventus has not waned. I have also gotten my girlfriend on board the Juventus train, and she now wears the black and white. I have not been as privileged to be able to attend a live Juventus match and share in the atmosphere and songs and cheers for our heroes prior to this, but all this changed on 21st July 2019, which made this mere friendly match all the more noteworthy to me.
This is my Juventus story, and I am proud to share this heritage with Juventini all over the world. Forza Juve, and andrea ragazzi!
See my match day review here:
Also see pictures here:
ICC 2019: Juventus 2-3 Tottenham Hotspur (21st July 2019) Gallery
Joshosaurus' Wanderings 
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