Adelaide United's continental credentials will be put to the test Wednesday when the Australian team meets J-League powerhouse Kashima Antlers, one of three Japanese teams lining up in the Asian Champions League quarterfinals. Kashima, Japan's most successful team with five J-League titles, will be motivated to open its quarterfinals campaign with a home win as it bids for a first Asian Champions League final. Kashima breezed through the group stage with 28 goals, averaging more than four per game, to finish as the most prolific scorer in the preliminaries. Adelaide enters its first match against a Japanese team on the back of a 1-0 loss to A-League rival Melbourne. Under newly-adopted FIFA rules, players must have lived in an adopted country for at least five years, as opposed to two years under the old regulations, to qualify as a domestic player. Uzbekistan team Bunyodkor, formerly Kuruvchi, will be pinning its hopes on Brazil great Rivaldo when it travels to take on Saipa of Iran. An injury-depleted Urawa Reds open their Champion's League title defense against Al-Qadsia of Kuwait after getting a bye through to the last eight. Urawa travels to Syria without midfielder Keita Suzuki, who has an an ankle injury, while striker Tatsuya Tanaka is yet to recover from a thigh strain sustained in Japan's World Cup qualifier in Bahrain last week. Al-Qadsia, an 11-time Kuwaiti champion, has made three Champions League appearances – reaching the 2006 semifinals and last year's quarterfinals. “We know a lot about our opponents,” German-born Engels said. “They are a very aggressive team. I am confident that we can draw there (in Kuwait) and even win.” Another Japanese hopeful, Gamba Osaka, travels to Syria to play Al-Karama. Al-Karama has lost just one Champions League game at its home ground in the past two years – a 2-0 loss to South Korea's Seongnam Ilhwa that eliminated them from contention for last year's semifinals. Osaka enters the quarterfinals after finishing the preliminary round undefeated in a group that contained South Korea's Chunnam, Australia's Melbourne Victory and Thailand's Chonburi. – AP __
