"A tactical battle between two selections who know each other well in the continuity of a great football story."

The coach of Morocco, Vahid Halilhodzic, never minces his words and, before facing Egypt, Sunday, January 30, in the quarter-finals of CAN-2022, he displays the same determination and the same concentration which made his success from the Raja Casablanca bench, where he began his career. 

The Franco-Bosnian coach knows his African Cup inside out. When he talks about "the continuity of a great story", he is surely referring to CAN-2017, where the two teams had already faced each other in the quarter-finals, with a victory for Egypt (1- 0), fell in the final against Cameroon. But on all the matches, the balance tilts in favor of the Carthage Lions, with 12 wins in 26 matches in all competitions, for 11 draws and only 3 defeats.

However, the African Cup is not necessarily the competition that works best for Vahid Halilhodzic.

Before the start of the competition, Hervé Kouamouo, an independent sports journalist, analyzed on France 24: "Vahid Halilhodzic at the CAN, these are mainly missed appointments. In 2010 with Côte d'Ivoire, he was eliminated in the quarter- final, and in 2013, with Algeria, which he will lead the following year in the round of 16 of the World Cup, he is eliminated in the first round.

The specialized journalist concedes all the same that this time, with Morocco, "he has a solid team, well in place, like the coach".

"A big club in Morocco wants you to come"

A coach who also has privileged ties with Morocco, since that is where his coaching career really began. After a very honorable career as a player, which began at Velež Mostar, in the former Yugoslavia, then especially in Nantes and at PSG, he converted to the benches. But the beginnings are complicated: "There was war at home (in Bosnia, editor's note), I came from there to train Beauvais in the 2nd division" but his coaching diploma obtained in Yugoslavia is not approved, he told AFP before the start of CAN-2022. "I no longer had a job, I had lost everything during the war, I had to work! Henri Michel and Michel Hidalgo called me: 'A big club in Morocco wants you to come'".

And this is how the Bosnian found himself at the head of Raja Casablanca, in 1997, with whom he won the CAF Champions League, and the Moroccan championship, conceding only one defeat this season.

He recalls: "I didn't know much there, but I discovered an extraordinary club, I didn't know that Raja was so popular (...) We were almost eliminated from the Champions League. "Africa, then we won almost everything and four months later we were African champions. On the cornice at Casa, there were millions of people, an event engraved in my memory!"

After this first experience, the coach returned to his family in France, where he coached Lille, Rennes, then Paris-SG, with whom he won the Coupe de France in 2004.

Ivory Coast and Algeria, missed appointments

Then Vahid Halilhodzic went to Turkey, to Trabzonspor, and to Saudi Arabia, to Ittihad Jeddah, before taking charge of his first national team, Côte d'Ivoire, in 2008. An experience that left him with a bitter taste, then that that year, the bus of the Togo team, which plays in the same pool, was the victim of an attack: "I think the Ivorians were almost relieved to be eliminated (in the quarter-finals by the Algeria). They were a little bit right, I understand them, but it cost me my place for the World Cup, when we had had an exceptional career."

"Coach Vahid" then revived at Dinamo Zagreb, Croatia, before taking the lead in Algeria.

But with the Fennecs, if he fails at CAN 2013, eliminated in the 1st round, he reaches the round of 16 of the World Cup in Brazil, where Algeria falls to Germany (1-2), future World Champion.

"This CAN had allowed us to progress, to learn to live together," he explained to World.

After several detours, Vahid Halilhodzic is back in Morocco and takes over the reins of the selection in August 2019, succeeding Hervé Renard.

"It was partly necessary to rebuild, while maintaining a base. I called up a lot of players, perhaps too many, but I had to do some tests. Today I have a good group, with an excellent state of play. 'spirit,' he continues in an interview with Le Monde.

A state of mind that he built with hammer blows.

Among those sacrificed under his reign: Noussair Mazraoui, Zouhair Feddal and especially Chelsea star Hakim Ziyech, accused of not being sufficiently involved in selection.

"I have set up very precise rules, whoever does not accept them does not come. At the CAN, it is the collective that wins", he assures.

An intransigence which he has made his trademark even if, on the occasion of this CAN, the coach displays a smiling and serene turn, exchanging jokes with journalists at a press conference and publicly teasing his players.

[📺LIVE] 🏆🌍 #CAN2021

🇲🇦😍 It's the great love between Vahid Halilhodzic, Achraf Hakimi and Sofiane Boufal!

pic.twitter.com/FmYyE4Ag6X

— beIN SPORTS (@beinsports_FR) January 25, 2022

Undefeated in 2021, and at CAN-2022, the Carthage Eagles can therefore approach the clash against Egypt with confidence, as Vahid Halilhodzic explained in a press conference: "The advantage of the Egyptian team is experience and vice in the game. On the Moroccan side, the team has enthusiasm, youth and the desire to win. It will typically be a game where small details can make the difference".

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