Ruthless Japan beat China to move to brink of World Cup qualification

XIAMEN: A ruthless Japan moved to the brink of qualifying for their eighth straight World Cup after beating old rivals China 3-1 away from home on Tuesday.

Headers from Koki Ogawa and Ko Itakura put runaway group leaders Japan two goals up at half time before Lin Liangming pulled one back for China early in the second half.

Ogawa snuffed out China’s hopes of a comeback with his second of the game six minutes later in front of a vociferous crowd of 45,000 in Xiamen.

Japan were playing their first senior international in China in nine years and there is a long history of rivalry between the two countries.

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There was a heavy police presence outside the Xiamen Egret Stadium, where around 750 Japan fans were expected to be in attendance.

Loud booing greeted the Japanese national anthem before kick-off and the game was briefly stopped in the first half when a fan invaded the pitch.

The win gave Japan five wins and a draw in Asian qualifying Group C and took them to within touching distance of a place at the 2026 World Cup.

The top two teams in each of the three groups will reach the showpiece in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Japan are at home to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in their next fixtures in March.

China gave a much-improved performance after losing 7-0 to Japan in Saitama in their opening group game.

They have six points from six games and are still in the hunt for a place at their first World Cup since 2002.

Japan made several changes to the team that beat Indonesia 4-0 in Jakarta on Friday with Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma and Crystal Palace’s Daichi Kamada among those dropping to the bench.

Ogawa opened the scoring in the 39th minute, planting a firm header past goalkeeper Wang Dalei direct from a corner.

Japan doubled their lead just before the half-time whistle and again it came from a corner.

Koki Machida flicked on Junya Ito’s delivery and Itakura was unmarked at the back post to nod the ball home.

China found the perfect reply to start the second half when Lin pulled a goal back for the hosts.

Xie Wenneng cleverly dummied Wei Shihao’s pass and Lin slotted the ball past goalkeeper Zion Suzuki.

China’s joy lasted just six minutes before Ogawa headed in another Ito cross to restore Japan’s two-goal cushion.