Club soccer returns to Japan on Saturday as reigning J. League champion Kashima Antlers take on Emperor's Cup runnerup Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the traditional curtain-raising Xerox Super Cup match.

The game is a final tuneup for the two sides before the J. League season kicks off a week later, and Antlers coach Oswaldo Oliveira is hoping to use the occasion to steal a march on his rivals for the 2008 title.

"It is very important because this match is the first official match we have," Oliveira said on Friday. "It is a competition, and we have to be ready for that. We will be looking to win it, and psychologically that would be very good for the start of the season."