With a 20-year-old grudge against the Italian football team, Waseem Razeek has shed no tears over their absence from this summer’s World Cup.
He “really cried” after his dream assignment as a ball boy for the 2006 final turned sour.
A fanatical France supporter, despite growing up in Germany, Razeek saw his heroes beaten on penalties by Italy in Berlin.
Transfixed on the ball all night, he missed the extra-time headbutt that Zinedine Zidane landed on Marco Materazzi.
“I didn’t know he’d done anything wrong,” Razeek said. “We saw him being chased by camera people [after being sent off].
“It was a hot night but I felt cold in extra-time because I was so nervous, then ‘we’ lost on penalties and I really cried. I’ve not liked the Italy team since.”
Razeek’s father, Jamal, a former Sri Lanka hockey player, moved to Germany to try to advance his own sporting career.