Friday March 29th, 2024
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Hector Cuper Leaves His Role as Egyptian Football Manager

Following Egypt's disappointing World Cup run, the Egyptian FA has decided not to renew his contract.

Staff Writer

Hector Cuper Leaves His Role as Egyptian Football Manager

Hector Cuper has officially stepped down as manager of the Egyptian national team, according to BBC. The Argentine’s contract was due to come to an end after the World Cup and, though it had been reported that he was in negotiations with the Egyptian FA to extend it before the tournament, the 62 year-old has left his role after being appointed in March 2015.

Despite leading Egypt to their first World Cup in 28 years, the team failed to register their first ever win in the tournament and failed to pick up a single point against Uruguay, Russia and, most damagingly, Saudi Arabia.

After the Saudi Arabia loss, Cuper said that he will “see what will happen” ahead of the EFA meeting and what followed didn’t exactly come as a surprise. 

The EFA said: "We held a meeting after returning from Russia and the entire board decided to say thank you to Cuper and his technical staff. We appreciate the work from the coach, from reaching the Africa Cup of Nations after three years of absence and taking Egypt to the World Cup after 28 years of absence."

Cuper facedmuch criticism during the tournament, due to his defensive style. But the former Valencia and Internazionale manager defended his tactical decisions, despite Egypt only managing to score one goal from open play. Speaking in a press conference following the Saudi Arabia loss, he said: “We scored and created five crucial chances, so I believe our strategy was right. We did not get good results at the World Cup but the performance was not bad, we lost twice in the final minutes so I do not think the strategy was a failure.”

Egypt has yet to win a game in 2018, with the last win coming last October in the historic win against Congo that clinched qualification to the World Cup. Egypt's next competitive match will see them face Niger in Group J of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifications on September 7th.

Main Image: IBTimes UK