Japanese striker Shinji Okazaki. (Photo : Getty Images)
Former Asian Cup champions Japan (6-0-1, 19 points) is set to meet fellow contenders Syria (6-1-0, 18 points) on Tuesday, March 29th at the Saitama Stadium 2002 in Saitama, Japan to close Group E competitions in the AFC 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
Japan drubbed Syria, 3-0, during their first meeting in the said tournament held at the Al-Seeb Stadium in Seeb, Oman on October 8th of last year during matchday 5 and will look to keep their football dominance over the Arabian squad.
The Samurai Blue crushed Afghanistan, 5-0, in their most recent game of the qualifiers held also at the Saitama Stadium last Thursday, as reported by Four Four Two.
Four different Japanese players and one own goal from the Lions of Khorasan completed the five-goal haul of Bosnian head coach Vahid Halilhodžić's side.
Japan was led by Leicester City striker Shinji Okazaki, who scored two minutes before the halftime break to give his team a 1-0 lead at the interval.
Hannover 96 midfielder Hiroshi Kiyotake unleashed the floodgates in the second half with a goal at the 53rd before Afghan midfielder Sharif Mukhammad had an own goal three minutes after the hour mark.
Southampton center back Maya Yoshida and Kashima Antlers winger Mu Kanazaki scored at the 74th and 78th minutes to seal the game for the Japanese.
Meanwhile, Syria pulled off a 6-0 demolition of Cambodia at the Al-Seeb Stadium also last Thursday in the penultimate matchday's other game, as per Soccerway.
Striker Omar Khribin opened the scoring with a brace at the seventh and 19th minutes to give head coach Fajr Ibrahim a quick two-goal lead early in the match.
The goals kept coming in the second half as defender Ahmad Kallasi netted one at the 57th before Cambodian forward Leng Makara had an own goal 10 minutes after the hour mark.
Midfielder Abdelrazaq Al-Hussain and striker Sanharib Malki scored one goal each in the final 10 minutes of the match to complete the Syrian's six-goal haul.
The predicted result is a 2-0 result for Japan.
Japan starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Higashiguchi; Morishige, Yoshida, Nagatomo, Sakai; Hasebe, Kashiwagi, Kiyotake, Haraguchi; Kanazaki, Okazaki
Syria starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Alma; Kallasi, Al Masri, O. Midani, Sabagh; Al Mawas, Al Hussain, Z. Midani, Omari; Al Baher, Khribin
