Tianjin Quanjian travelled for 27 hours to reach their Asian Champions League quarter-final at Japan's Kashima Antlers and the Chinese side showed barely more urgency in a 2-0 defeat on Tuesday.

Kashima's deserved victory thanks to second-half strikes from the Brazilian duo Leo Silva and Serginho puts them firmly in control of the tie before the second leg in Tianjin on September 18.

Tianjin's Portuguese coach Paulo Sousa, who has endured a difficult debut season in the Chinese Super League, came to Japan intending to frustrate the hosts.

But his unambitious approach fell apart on the hour when midfielder Silva popped up unmarked to fire in.

Kashima, themselves hardly excelling in the J-League, pushed for a second goal to take back to China and they got it when Serginho rifled in from outside the box on 72 minutes.

Defeat was a disheartening conclusion to a rocky couple of days for Sousa and Tianjin after they got stuck in traffic and missed their flight to Japan.

According to media in China, that meant Brazilian star Alexandre Pato and the rest of the Tianjin side killing time in Beijing before finally jetting over to Japan.

It was hardly great preparation for the biggest game in the club's short history -- this is Tianjin's first time in the Champions League since they were formed 12 years ago.

When they did finally arrive on Japan's east coast, more than a day after setting off, Tianjin had to take on Kashima shorn of two of the stars who played a large part in getting them into the last eight.

Belgian international Axel Witsel joined Borussia Dortmund earlier this month and French striker Anthony Modeste is unavailable as he attempts to leave the club.

In the first quarter-final, Qatar's Al Sadd took a large step towards the Champions League semi-finals with a 3-1 win at Iran's Esteghlal.

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BORUSSIA DORTMUND