McKain drafted in for the Reds

Coach John Kosmina said he will bring experienced McKain into the Reds' back four when the 2008 ACL finalist takes on the Uzbek side in Tashkent.

"I've pretty much settled on it. At the moment Jon McKain will come in for Nigel Boogaard and that's all I'll say at the moment," Kosmina told AFP from Tashkent.

"There might be another one up our sleeve - we'll just wait and see."

Bunyodkor is in the box seat after fighting back from two goals down to draw 2-2 against 10-man Adelaide at Hindmarsh Stadium a fortnight ago.

Defender Boogaard was shown the red card just before half-time for bringing down Kamoliddin Murzoev who was through on goal with only the goalkeeper to beat.

The Reds must win or earn a high-scoring draw to stay alive in the tournament on the away goals rule.

Adelaide will have been encouraged by its 2-1 win over Bunyodkor in Tashkent during the group stage earlier this year.

"We certainly come here more knowledgeable," Kosmina said.

"When we came here in March we didn't really know what to expect.

"We knew they were out of season and we had a quiet confidence when we came here last time and I think we're justified being quietly confident this time as well because of the way we played against them two weeks ago."

Kosmina said he had seen enough in the first leg match at home to suggest Adelaide had a good chance of progressing to the semi-finals.

"I think the way we played against them two weeks ago, certainly when it was 11 v 11, there was enough in that for the players to have confidence and maintain that belief that they developed over the ACL campaign so far without being complacent," he said.

"But they certainly played well enough to justify thinking that we're good enough to beat this team here."

Bunyodkor is yet to beat Adelaide United in three meetings in this season's ACL.