Daichi Kamada scored twice as Japan rounded off their successful World Cup qualifying campaign with a 6-0 thrashing of Patrick Kluivert’s Indonesia in Osaka.
Kamada, an FA Cup winner with Crystal Palace in England this season, struck twice in Tuesday’s first half as already-qualified Japan finished their campaign as Group C winners, scoring 30 goals in their 10 matches.
Takefusa Kubo, Ryoya Morishita, Shuto Machino and substitute Mao Hosoya were also on target against Indonesia, who finished fourth in the group.
Kluivert’s side, who were backed by a large number of supporters who had travelled to Japan, advanced to a further round with five other teams to decide two more Asian qualifiers for next year’s tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The result matched Japan’s previous winning margin against Indonesia, which also came in a 6-0 win in 1976.
Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu has set the ambitious target of winning the World Cup in North America.
His side will play friendlies against teams from outside Asia over the next 12 months, and Kamada is looking to learn from the experience.
“Playing against Asian teams and against the kind of European teams who will be at the World Cup is totally different,” said the 28-year-old.
“As we play these games, we will start to see a lot of areas where we need to improve. We need to come together as a team and overcome these problems when they crop up.”
Japan have already lined up away friendlies against Mexico and the US in September and will face four as yet unnamed opponents at home before the end of the year.
Moriyasu said his players need to keep improving “in all departments” and praised their attitude against Indonesia.
“The challenge for the players is to break past their limits and grow,” he said.
“They did that in training and in the game, where they were never satisfied and always looking for the next goal and the next chance, which is great to see.”
Japan lost their unbeaten qualifying record in a 1-0 defeat away to Australia last week, with coach Hajime Moriyasu fielding an experimental lineup with qualification already in the bag.
He started with two more debutants against Indonesia, handing first caps to defender Junnosuke Suzuki and winger Shunsuke Mito.
Kamada opened the scoring in the 15th minute, heading home from a Mito cross.
The Palace forward turned provider for his team’s second, combining with Kubo before the Real Sociedad man fired past Indonesia goalkeeper Emil Audero.
Indonesia lost defender Kevin Diks to injury midway through the first half, and his replacement, Yakob Sayuri, lasted only 15 minutes before he also had to go off after a clash of heads.
Kamada scored Japan’s third on the stroke of half-time, waltzing through the Indonesia defence before tucking the ball over Audero.
Morishita volleyed home at the back post in the 55th minute for his first international goal.
Source: Aljazeera
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