Seychellois football fans living Euro 2020 Ferventsupporter Dingwall confident the Azurri will reach the final |19 June 2021
Wearing a Juventus shirt Dingwall is pictured here with Del Piero
Fervent Italy supporter Terrence Dingwall is confident the Azurri will enjoy a good run in the ongoing European Championship (Euro 2020) and believes they have what it takes to reach the final and win the tournament.
Speaking to Sports NATION after Italy’s first win in group A against Turkey on a 3-0 score in the tournament’s opening match, Dingwall, nicknamed ‘Juve’ for he is also an ardent supporter of Italian club Juventus, said “Italy will reach the final”.
And on Wednesday night, Italy became the first team to secure a last-16 spot thanks to their 3-0 win over Switzerland in the second group match, a result that took them to six points from two games.
Two goals either side of half-time from Manuel Locatelli and a late Ciro Immobile strike downed Switzerland on the night as the Italians turned on the style to extend their unbeaten run to 29 matches stretching back to September 2018. And they have kept 10 consecutive clean sheets.
“I have been a supporter of both Juventus and the Italy national team for 43 years. Italy are a great team and if they keep going as they have been doing they have everything it takes to make it to the final. But I have to say there are some very good teams out there,” said 60-year-old Dingwall.
He added: “When Italy is taking part in a big international tournament I always wear Italy’s colours and have my face painted in the national colours of Italy ‒ green, white and red. When it comes to club football, my favorite team is Juventus and I also wear their colours. Some people who don’t know my name, say ‘hi Juve’ when they see me. And I acknowledge it. This is because I love these teams. Locally, my best team is St Michel.”
Dingwall explained that if Italy are knocked out of the competition in the knockout stage of the Euro 2020 tournament, he will not support any team but will still wear the Italy colours.
Dingwall also told Sports NATION that he was fortunate to meet some top Italian players and take souvenir photos with all of them. On one occasion, he met Roberto Mancini, Gianluca Vialli and Pietro Vierchowod at the same time.
How lucky he was!
Roberto Mancini used to play for Bologna, Sampdoria and Lazio at club level and capped 36 times by the Italy national team as a forward. He is now the Italy team head coach at Euro 2020.
Former striker Gianluca Vialli transferred from Sampdoria to Juventus for a World record £12.5 million in 1992. He is also one of the coaches of the Italy team at the ongoing Euro.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest Italian centre-backs of all-time, Pietro Vierchowod represented the Italian national side and won the 1982 Fifa World Cup.
He played his club football for Como, Fiorentina, Roma, Sampdoria, Juventus, Milan and Piacenza. In total he played 562 Serie A matches.
Dingwall also met former Juventus and Italian forward Alessandro Del Piero. One of the best Italian players of all time, Del Piero played 91 times for Italy and scored 27 goals.
He also had the chance to meet former Czech international attacking midfielder Pavel Nedvěd who was recruited by Juventus in 2001 to replace French playmaker Zinedine Zidane. Nedvěd is now the vice-chairman of Juventus.
His most recent encounter with a former Juventus player was with Bosnian Miralem Pjanić, who played for Juventus from 2016 to 2020 winning four Serie A titles, two Coppa Italias, and being named in the Serie A Team of the Year for 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons. He was also named in the 2016-17 UEFA Champions League squad of the season for his role in Juventus's run to the final. In September 2020, Pjanić joined Barcelona.
“I met all these players when they were holidaying in Seychelles. I even travelled to South Africa in 2010 for the World Cup. I travelled daily between cities in cars, buses to watch 15 matches. It was there that I discovered the vuvuzela. It was a really good experience,” said Dingwall.
A vuvuzela is a plastic horn, brightly coloured, and seen in abundance at sporting events in South Africa ‒ a symbol of South African football as the stadiums are filled with its sound.
Seychelles NATION invites other supporters to share their photos for publication. Please email us at nation@seychelles.net, seynat@seychelles.net. You can also call us on 2722680 and 4385775.
Gerard Govinden
