With the end of the club season already arrived and international fixtures due to break after the weekend, football is entering ‘silly season’. Former Valencia manager Hector Cuper has been unfortunate enough to find himself victim of it.
The Argentine was sacked from his position as coach of the Democratic Republic of Congo after consecutive losses to Sudan, Gabon and Morocco. That’s despite finishing top of his group to set up a play-off for the World Cup with Morocco, which they have only qualified for once in 1974.
That isn’t the remarkable part of the story though. According to Stanis Bujakera Tshiamala, as referenced in Marca, the President of DR Congo took matters into his own hands. Chembo Nkonde personally sent a missive to the football federation to ensure he did not keep his job.
Cuper’s contract expired, having not ‘improved the level of the team’, an assessment that was to be made by Nkonde. Cuper had won 3 of his matches, drawn 4 and lost 5 in total.
