After beating old foes China 3-1 away yesterday, Japan is almost certain to go to their eighth straight World Cup.

The headers from At halftime, Japan was ahead 2-0 thanks to goals from Koki Ogawa and Ko Itakura. However, China scored first in the second half, thanks to a goal from Lin Liangming.

Soon after, Ogawa scored his second goal of the game, putting an end to China’s hopes of making a comeback. The 45,000 people in Xiamen were stunned.

Before the game started, there was loud booing during the Japanese national song. In the first half, the game was briefly stopped when a fan ran onto the field.

The Dutch striker Ogawa said, “It was tough at times, and we knew that the first goal would be very important.”

Japan was playing their first senior international in China in nine years. Japan and China have a long history of being rivals.

About 750 Japanese fans were planning to go to the game at the Xiamen Egret Stadium, but there were a lot of cops around.

“Everyone contributed to our victory today,” Hajime Moriyasu, the manager of Japan, stated.

“Those on the field, those on the bench, and those not on the bench today gave their energy, which is why we won.”

Japan currently has five victories and a tie in Asian qualifying Group C after this simple victory. They have a very good chance of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.

A final will be held in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Each of the three groups’ top two teams will go there.

Following Indonesia’s 2-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in Jakarta, there is fierce rivalry for second place in Group C. In the second half, Marselino Ferdinan scored both goals.

As a result, Bahrain had five points, while Saudi Arabia, China, Australia, and Indonesia all earned six. Later on Tuesday, the Socceroos will travel to Bahrain.

Happiness that is fleeting

Many changes were made to Japan’s squad, who defeated Indonesia 4-0 on Friday. Both Crystal Palace’s Daichi Kamada and Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma came off the bench.

In the 39th minute, Ogawa headed a corner straight past Wang Dalei in goal to score the first goal.

Japan increased the lead to 2-0 just before halftime with another goal from a corner kick.

Junya Ito’s delivery was flicked on by Koki Machida, and Itakura nodded the ball home at the back post without being marked.

Despite being down, China performed significantly better after losing to Japan 7-0 in Saitama in their opening group match.

The home team tied the score three minutes after halftime.

Lin got the ball past goalie Zion Suzuki after Xie Wenneng deftly dummied Wei Shihao’s assist.

After just six minutes of China’s happiness, Ogawa headed in another Ito cross to restore Japan a two-goal lead once more.

With the World Cup just around the corner, Japan’s next games in March will be against Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Itakura remarked, “These last two games were challenging as we anticipated, but it was really positive to get two wins.”

“We still have a lot to work on, but it was a good game, and we’ll prepare for the next ones.” — AFP