TOKYO: Japan became the first team to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Thursday as Daichi Kamada and Takefusa Kubo struck in the second half to earn Hajime Moriyasu’s side a 2-0 win over Bahrain at Saitama Stadium, Reuters reported.
Midfielder Kamada came off the bench to put Japan in front after 66 minutes and Kubo added the second three minutes from time to keep the Samurai Blue in pole position in Group C of Asia’s preliminaries.
The result means Japan continues to lead Group C by nine points from second-placed Australia, who overcame an early scare to thrash Indonesia 5-1 in Sydney in Patrick Kluivert’s first game in charge of the visitors.
Saudi Arabia host China in the remaining Group C game in Riyadh later on Thursday.
In Group B, South Korea and Oman drew 1-1 at Goyang Stadium.
With this result, South Korea raised their score to 15 points at the top of the group, and Oman’s score to 7 points in fourth place.