‘There are times in life when, without really planning it, everything comes together: there’s a moment, when it fits,” Héctor Cúper says. They were not fully aware of it then but the spring of 2015, when he became the coach of Egypt, was one of those moments. They needed him and he needed them; he believes they met at the right time and had even more in common than they first realised: passionate about football, proud, but fallen and a little wounded, they had a past better than their present. They shared a desire – he calls it a “need” – for revival.
Uefa’s coach of the year in 2000, Champions League finalist two seasons running with Valencia, Cúper had just been sacked after four months at Al‑Wasl in Dubai, having previously been at Orduspor, Racing Santander, where he resigned with the team bottom of La Liga, and Aris Thessaloniki. Before that he had been coach of Georgia for a year in which they did not win a game. African Champions in 2006, 2008 and 2010, Egypt had not even made it to the next three tournaments. Now, together, they have reached tonight’s final against Cameroon in Libreville.
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