OBERSTAUFEN, Germany — Mohammed Jaddou performs a special trick when the ball is at his feet. On the training field of F.V. Ravensburg, a team that plays in the fifth tier of German soccer, Jaddou, the captain of Syria’s under-16 national team, flicks the ball deftly to his chest, rolling it perfectly up on to his face.
He balances the ball on his lips and kisses it before rolling it back down his body and onto his feet, breaking into a smile reminiscent of that of his hero, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Then Jaddou, 17, repeats the trick, kissing the ball over and over again.