Japan and South Korea have ended their successful 2026 World Cup qualification campaigns on a high with emphatic home victories over Indonesia and Kuwait respectively.
In Osaka, Daichi Kamada scored after 15 minutes to set Japan, preparing for an eighth consecutive World Cup, on the way to a 6-0 victory.
Takefusa Kubo added a second five minutes later and Kamada extended the lead just before the break. Soon after the restart, Ryoya Morishita and Shuto Machino piled on and Mao Hosoya made it six.
South Korea, already qualified for an 11th straight World Cup, sealed top spot in Group B after beating Kuwait 4-0 to complete an unbeaten campaign.
Jeon Jin-woo scored after 33 minutes at Seoul World Cup Stadium and Lee Kang-in added a second soon after the restart. Oh Hyeon-gyu and Lee Jae-sung also got on the scoresheet.
In Asia’s third round of qualification, the top two from each of the three groups of six progress automatically to the World Cup. Jordan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Japan and South Korea have qualified for the expanded 48-team tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Australia, the only team to beat Japan in qualifying, will also book a place if they avoid a heavy defeat in Saudi Arabia later on Tuesday (local time)
The six teams that finish third and fourth advance to another stage to play off for Asia’s two remaining automatic places.
Elsewhere, China defeated Bahrain 1-0 with both teams already eliminated from contention.
