L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 28 L'Italo-Americano SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY I t ' s a w a r m J u l y e v e n i n g i n t h e B a y Area. Arshish and S u r a b h i G u p t a , together with their kids - Zade, Zane, Zoey - are waiting at Terminal 1 at the Oakland airport. They share the waiting area with Italian and Italian-American fans, a l l h o l d i n g a n d p r o u d l y w e a r i n g b l a c k a n d w h i t e striped gear. Ten years after last time, one Italian soccer club, Juventus FC, is back in the Bay Area for what is considered one of the biggest summer events around the world. Soccer Champions T o u r i s a s e r i e s o f g a m e s held across the United States a n d f e a t u r i n g s i x o f t h e world's most iconic Euro- pean soccer clubs. With the Women's World Cup under- w a y i n N e w Z e a l a n d a n d Australia, the hype is big for the sport that attracts fans e v e r y w h e r e . C a l i f o r n i a i s r e p r e s e n t e d t h r o u g h S a n Francisco and Los Angeles, with big venues like the icon- i c R o s e B o w l , L e v i ' s , a n d SoFi Stadiums. Arshish and Surabhi are both originally from Dubai and moved to the Bay Area f o r w o r k i n 2 0 0 4 . T h e y stayed on, got married, and had kids. The most impor- t a n t f a c t f o r t h i s s t o r y though, they have a special c o n n e c t i o n w i t h I t a l y through soccer and Juven- tus. The club, founded in 1897 in Turin, is the second oldest athletics club in Italy and is well known abroad t h a n k s t o t h e t e a m b e i n g part of international tourna- m e n t s a n d m a n y p l a y e r s coming from different coun- tries. These days, the club is c e l e b r a t i n g t h e 1 0 0 t h anniversary of the Agnelli family's ownership. Giovanni A g n e l l i , f a m o u s I t a l i a n e n t r e p r e n e u r a n d F I A T f o u n d e r , m a d e h i s s o n Edoardo, 31, president of the club in 1923. On Saturday, July 22nd, a last-minute change prevent- ed thousands of fans from gathering and cheering at the L e v i ' s S t a d i u m i n S a n t a Clara for the Juventus FC - Barcelona FC game, a night expected to be full of cham- pions and calcio. L'Italo- A m e r i c a n o w a s a b l e t o attend the training session of J u v e n t u s p l a y e r s t h a t r e p l a c e d t h e m a t c h a n d talked to Arshish and Surab- hi to learn more about the family's love for Italy and Italian football. Surabhi, how did the passion for "calcio italia- no" start in the family? We were surrounded by European football growing up in the Middle East, it's a religion over there. Arshish is the one who was passion- a t e a b o u t i t , h e p l a y e d through his school years and he was born with a love for Italian football. The passion for Juventus is because he started watching Roberto Baggio in 1991. He is also a big Azzurri fan. I joke that the best day in his life was the day Italy won the World Cup in 2006, not the day his kids were born or his wed- ding. One of the kids goes to the Juventus Academy Silicon Valley, why did you decide that? This mad love for Juve is the biggest reason why he chose to drive 25 minutes to Redwood City three times a w e e k . T h e A c a d e m y a l s o hosts a World Cup where players across the world at different academies come and play games like a World Cup. The stop of the Soccer Champions Tour in San Francisco was added in 2023 after many years of m i s s i n g f r o m t h e B a y A r e a . W h a t w a s y o u r k i d s ' r e a c t i o n t o t h i s news? We've never seen the team play a competitive match in person. Once we found out that the team was coming to S a n F r a n c i s c o , A r s h i s h reached out to the local club to see if the Juventus Club of Silicon Valley had anything planned and to the Academy to see if they could arrange a meeting for all the kids. We bought tickets to the game the day they were released and have been in constant contact with other Juventus fans. Fans don't get to see their favorite teams that o f t e n w h e n l i v i n g a b r o a d . T h e S u m m e r T o u r i s o n e o f t h o s e moments fans wait for- ever. How did you get ready for it? G e t t i n g r e a d y f o r t h e game involved buying jerseys from the Juventus store for the entire family and getting them delivered just in time for the training session. The kids were ecstatic when they found out the team would be there. They started planning which players they wanted to m e e t a n d w h o t h e y w e r e going to take pictures with. There were a few arguments on who is the biggest fan as well. These two past days were a rollercoaster of emotions, from canceled t r a i n i n g a n d g a m e t o meeting the players at the hotel. Can you tell us what you did and how you made the most out of it? The sequence of events is what brought a mix of feel- ings for fans and kids. When the team arrived at Oakland, the fans had to be behind a closed fence; at the hotel, on t h e o t h e r h a n d , a f t e r t h e g a m e g o t c a n c e l e d , a f e w players made the fans' day by greeting all of us. W h a t w a s t h e k i d s ' reaction when they saw the players? T h e y w e r e s t a r - s t r u c k ! They had their jerseys ready and, at the last minute, my son took off his academy jer- sey and got it signed by the entire team. It was one for the memory books. Meeting t h e p l a y e r s w a s s u c h a n experience for my kids and a moment they will treasure forever. The family will soon be off to Southern Cali- fornia… As far as planning the trip t o L A , w e h o p e t h i s g o e s s e a m l e s s l y l i k e l a s t y e a r w h e n t h e y h a d o r g a n i z e d t r a i n i n g a t L o y o l a M a r y - m o u n t U n i v e r s i t y . T h e y signed almost everyone's jer- sey, they stood for pictures. Maybe that event got our hopes even higher for this event in Silicon Valley. Have the kids been to Italy yet? I c a n n o t t e l l y o u h o w many times we tried to plan a t r i p t o I t a l y t o w a t c h a game. The most memorable was in March 2020, right after my husband won a VIP experience. We were going as a family. We were ready, until Covid struck. We also tried to go last year but get- ting a visa appointment was really hard. We finally made i t l a s t m o n t h , n o t f o r a Juventus club game, but for my son to play at the Juven- tus Academy World Cup. Are you planning to go again, then? My husband is organizing a t r i p i n O c t o b e r f o r t h e Derby Della Mole game to surprise the boys and take them out of school for two days. The visa process is still hard, nevertheless, we are excited to make this happen. Let's hope it's a good year for the team! Since my husband is a huge Juve follower, he c h e c k s w h e r e t h e p l a y e r s dine around Turin and dis- covered a restaurant by a chef who is a huge Juventus f a n . T h e w a l l s a r e f u l l o f signed jerseys by many play- ers. When we were in Turin last month, we decided to d i n e t h e r e . T h e y w e r e a l l amazed by a family coming from San Francisco to dine at their restaurant. The chef gifted my husband with a bottle of wine. The food was amazing too, probably one of t h e b e s t m e a l s w e h a d i n Italy. SERENA PERFETTO Beloved calcio italiano lands in California, making special memories for a Bay Area family Arshish and one of his children take photos of a wall covered with signed jerseys in their favorite Turin restaurant (Photo courtesy of Arshish and Surabhi Gupta)

• Cover