Ruthless Japan beats China to maneuver to brink of World Cup qualification

Xiamen, China –

A ruthless Japan moved to the brink of qualifying for its eighth straight World Cup after beating previous rivals China 3-1 away on Tuesday.

Headers from Koki Ogawa and Ko Itakura put runaway group chief Japan two objectives up at half time earlier than Lin Liangming pulled one again for China early within the second half.

Ogawa snuffed out China’s hopes of a comeback along with his second of the sport six minutes later to silence the group of 45,000 in Xiamen.