Japan and South Korea wrapped up their impressive campaigns for the 2026 World Cup qualification with strong home wins against Indonesia and Kuwait, respectively.
In Osaka, Daichi Kamada opened the scoring after just 15 minutes, setting Japan on track for a convincing 6-0 win as they prepared for their eighth consecutive World Cup.
Takefusa Kubo scored a second goal just five minutes later, and Kamada netted again just before halftime. After the break, Ryoya Morishita and Shuto Machino added to the tally, and Mao Hosoya completed the rout with the sixth goal.
Meanwhile, South Korea, already assured of their place in an 11th consecutive World Cup, secured first place in Group B after defeating Kuwait 4-0, finishing their campaign unbeaten.
Jeon Jin-woo scored the opening goal in the 33rd minute at Seoul World Cup Stadium, and Lee Kang-in followed up with another shortly after the second half started. Oh Hyeon-gyu and Lee Jae-sung also contributed goals to the win.
In Asia’s third round of qualification, the top two teams from each of the three groups will qualify directly for the World Cup. Jordan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Japan, and South Korea have all secured their spots in the expanded 48-team tournament set to take place in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Australia, the only team to defeat Japan during qualifying, will also secure a spot if they can avoid a significant loss against Saudi Arabia later on Tuesday (local time).
The six teams finishing in third and fourth places will proceed to another round for a chance to compete for Asia’s remaining two automatic berths.
In other news, China managed to defeat Bahrain 1-0, although both teams had already been eliminated from World Cup contention.
