The Japanese national team became the first team to secure a place at next year's World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada, sportal.bg reported.
The “Samurai” won 2:0 over Bahrain with second-half goals from Daichi Kamada (66’) and Takefusa Kubo (87’), which secured not only the three points, but also qualification for next year's forum.
The two teams offered a more nervous first half, in which the hosts nevertheless dominated. They even scored an early goal in the eighth minute when the Bahrain goalkeeper made a serious mistake, but after a VAR review it was overturned due to a handball by a Japanese player. Jaime Moriyasu's team still took the lead in the 66th minute after a very beautiful multi-move combination that brought out the experienced Daichi Kamada, who converted. The point of contention was raised at the end of the match, when Takefusa Kubo scored another beautiful goal after a short corner kick.
In this way, Japan secured first place in the group with its 19 points on this remarkable evening in Saitama in front of 60,000 spectators. Second in the standings is still Australia, after the “kangaroos” earlier today prevailed 5:1 over Indonesia.