"The fans should come and support Ahli in the Cairo Stadium on Friday and forget about the World Cup for a while," Jose told a press conference after Ahli's 1-0 win over Harras Al-Hodoud in the semi-finals on Tuesday.

"But I have to admit that it's a shame that the Egyptian Cup is being played simultaneously with the World Cup," the Portuguese added.

Ahli reached the final after beating Al-Hodoud 1-0, courtesy of a Mohamed Abdul-Wahab free-kick in the 40th minute.

Jose, who has not won an Egyptian Cup title with Ahli before, said that facing Zamalek is the same as facing Ismaili to him.

Zamalek beat Ismaili 4-2 in a penalty shootout after both regular and extra time ended in a 1-1 draw.

"It doesn't matter who we face, our goal is the same: Win the championship and score as many goals as possible," he said.

"But the only problem we are facing is that we have very little time to prepare," Jose admitted.

Jose criticized referee Fahim Omar for doling out a yellow card to defender Islam Al-Shater, noting that the player did nothing to deserve the card.

The yellow card ruled Al-Shater out of Friday's final game, but Jose said he has a replacement on hand.