One of the most interesting aspects of football, and sports in general, is that players and coaches can trash talk as much as they want, but on the field, it becomes a completely different ball game…literally. Trash talking is an art, one that is mastered by Ahli's coach Manuel Jose. The Portuguese manager has often been accused by the Egyptian media of being snobbish and arrogant, but the man has had the artillery to back up his boasting on and off the field. With Ahli, Jose has managed to win 14 trophies on the local and continental levels, in addition to the Cup of Portugal with Boavista in 1992. Jose's relationship with the Egyptian media and football officials has always been kind of a love-hate one since because he masterfully managed to regulate his scorching comments when needed and they respected him for his spectacular record with the Red Devils. MOTOR-MOUTH MARCHAND On the other end of the spectrum, you have Bertrand Marchand, coach of Tunisian outfit Etoile Sahel, a man who in his twenty two-year coaching career has failed to win a single title, yet he never seems to shut up. Marchand did not even have a hand in building this energetic Etoile side that has reached four successive African finals as he only took over from Tunisian veteran Faouzi Benzerti who has to get all the credit for building this formidable side. "I watched Ahli against Ittihad and they suffered to succeed. Hilal are much better than the Egyptians. I had far more worries ahead of the matches against the Sudanese," said Marchand before the first-leg of the African final. "Ahli depend too much on luck and experience and will need more than that when facing us," he added. The surprising thing is that the French manager has nothing to show for all this bragging, not even with his current with whom he has yet to make a notable achievement. The Frenchman was dwarfed by his Portuguese opposite number in the first-leg in Sousse as Ahli players managed to keep the hosts at bay for the duration of the game, something that Marchand was hoping wouldn't happen. "We have to score more than once in the first leg in Tunisia," he said. FORMER PRECEDENTS
The first-leg ended in a goalless draw But Marchand is not the first coach on the continent to lock heads with Ahli's Jose in a war of words. Sfaxien coach Murad Majhoub claimed before last year's African final, which Ahli won 2-1 on aggregate, that he was not "impressed or even intimidated by Ahli". "I know their weaknesses very well and I'm going to work on them," added Mahjoub. Even this year, Mamelodi Sundowns coach Gordon Igesund made some inflated claims before taking on the title holders. "I do not want to sound off but I have no doubt in my mind that looking at my players, they are capable of beating Ahli and end their dominance of African football. I am truly confident that they are capable of achieving this objective." A CALM JOSE This time around, Jose has chosen a more calm approach but without losing his confident ambiance. "I have to admit that we concluded our target in Sousse but we still have to work very hard to make sure that this cup stays with us." "Etoile are a very good team and honestly they deserve all the respect. They have some very good young players and they are certainly a tough challenger," said the Portuguese. Jose even went the extra mile and gave his players a reality check before Friday's anticipated clash. "It would be ridiculous to think we won the cup because we drew in Tunisia," he added. The often bullish Marchand, on the other hand, insisted his side had the upper hand but with a much toned down comment after being held at home. "We knew we were up against a giant team t
