After 20 long years, Germany fan in Assam hopes to glug his buried Scotch

Bulgaria didn’t just send Germany packing in a quarterfinal match of the 1994 FIFA World Cup. It made Putul Borah bury a bottle of his prized Scotch in his courtyard, vowing never to touch whiskey until Germany lifts the trophy.

Bulgaria didn’t just send Germany packing in a quarterfinal match of the 1994 FIFA World Cup. It made Putul Borah bury a bottle of his prized Scotch in his courtyard, vowing never to touch whiskey until Germany lifts the trophy.

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Twenty years down the line, Joachim Loew’s boys have given Borah hope of ‘exhuming’ his Passport to celebration.

A resident of Diphu town in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district, Borah had in 1994 spent Rs 630 to buy the bottle of Passport Scotch whiskey in Kolkata, anticipating Germany’s victory. He was the odd man out – all his relatives, friends and neighbours were either Brazil or Argentina supporters.

Germany’s 2-1 loss to Bulgaria that year left Borah so heartbroken that he buried the Scotch. “This German side is playing just the kind of soccer that will make me dig out the bottle. My friends have advised me to auction the bottle since it has remained buried for 20 years,” Borah, 53, said.

“I have been following German football ever since television brought European football home in the 1980s. Miroslav Klose and Mesut Ozil are my favourites along with greats like Lothar Mathews, Jurgen Klinsmann, Rudy Voeller, Oliver Kahn and Michael Ballack,” he said.