Finals football in September

It's Adelaide United' chance to make history..tonight.

Finals football in September, and midweek to boot. Great news. So put away your Hawks and Geelong scarves until the weekend, it's time to support the mighty Aussies, the mighty Reds.

And looking good for a sell-out withover 12,000 tickets pre-sold.

Adelaide will rely on Asian Champions League star Travis Dodd. Diego the Braziliand midfielder will need to improve, but we know he can. Paul Reid is a great signing giving further quality to the midfield.

Cristiano upfront has lessened the absence of Bruce Djite, Scott Jamieson at left-back arguably the best returning Aussie this year and he's only nineteen with a crisp left foot to die for. He's worth watching alone as he overcomes his disappointment on missing out on English football with Bolton Wanderers.

On this form he could return.

Kashima are missing a couple of key players including their skipper. Will they be mentally here?

As they aim to defend their title in Japan, surely the players will have some doubt about their ability to get a result in Adelaide. It's a long trip and could be intimidating if the Reds fans are out in force.

Should be a belter of a game. Lucas Pantelis is out. Adelaide's central defence in dodgy and slow and they've been less than impressive as a team in the A-League this year....the whole team I mean.

But in Asia they've been wonderful.

Defensively sound apart from the bizarre Robbie Cornthwaite own goal last week.

Coach Aurelio Vidmar is impressive, at least in Asia.

And now they have a fantastic chance of moving into the Semi-Finals.

How good would that be?

Game is live on Fox. Good stuff.