Travis Dodd headed in a late winner as Adelaide United beat Waitakere United 2-1 at the Tokyo National Stadium.

The A-League side completely dominated the match but had to battle from behind after Paul Seaman put the Oceania champions ahead against the run of play in the 34th minute.

Daniel Mullen equalised with a bullet header five minutes later and skipper Dodd rewarded Adelaide's second-half pressure by glancing home a Paul Reid free-kick seven minutes from time.

Adelaide will meet Gamba at the Toyota Stadium on Sunday in a rematch of last month's Asian Champions League final, which was won 5-0 on aggregate by the Japanese side.

Adelaide entered the match as overwhelming favourites but struggled to break down the New Zealand part-timers.

Jason Spagnuolo forced Waitakere keeper Richard Gillespie into his first save of the game after 12 minute with a curling shot from just outside the box, Scott Jamieson tested Gillespie with a stinging shot from an acute angle and Cristiano headed a Kristian Sarkies cross over as the Australians pressed for the opening goal.

Waitakere did little in attack in the opening half-hour but took advantage of some shaky goalkeeping to take a shock lead.

There appeared to be little danger as Eugene Galekovic went up to gather a free-kick by Neil Sykes but the Adelaide keeper spilled the ball under a challenge from Seaman, who spun to volley the ball into the unguarded net.

The lead lasted only five minutes before Adelaide finally capitalised on one of their eight corners in the opening half.

Jamieson swung the ball in from the right, finding a completely unmarked Mullen who buried the ball into the top right corner with a firm header from 10 metres.

The New Zealanders could have regained the lead a minute before half-time as Galekovic failed to gather the ball after Reid deflected a Sykes free-kick high into the air. Waitakere skipper Neil Emblen came charging in and deflected the ball over the crossbar with his shoulder.

Adelaide turned up the pressure in the second half and went close to taking the lead nine minutes after the break as the ball ricocheted in the box to Fabian Babiero, whose first time effort was kept out by Gillespie's superb reflex save.

Mullen charged in to meet a Reid corner from the right in the 76th minute but sent his header wide and two minutes later, Jamieson curled a free-kick from 25 yards narrowly past the right post.

But the winner finally arrived in the 83rd minute as Reid's free-kick from the right picked out Dodd, who got in front of his marker to delicately glance a header past Gillespie.