Japan beat Thailand to reach final round

Lifted by a jubilant, mostly Japanese crowd at Bangkok’s Rajamangala stadium, Japan overpowered an error-prone Thai team with goals from Tulio, Yuji Nakazawa and Kengo Nakamura and advanced to round four after Group 2 leaders Bahrain drew 1-1 with Oman in Manama.

The victory will help ease the pressure on coach Takeshi Okada, who has been criticised for his team’s patchy start to the campaign.

Okada, who led the Japanese to their first World Cup in 1998 during his first stint in charge, said his team had now found their feet in the competition.

“I think we will get better and better the more we play,” Okada told reporters. “Our technique has been good but we’ve been lacking the will to win.

“The first half we had to attack and we did whatever it was to win. We didn’t have to push ourselves too much. It was hot and humid but we played well throughout.”

The three-times Asian champions attacked right from the start and got off the mark after 23 minutes when Tulio leapt high to head home a curling cross from Yasuhito Endo.

With midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura tantalising the Thai defence, Japan always looked dangerous and punished the hosts with a succession of neatly-contrived set pieces.

Endo nearly made it two when his well-struck free kick cannoned off the crossbar but Japan found their second in the 38th minute when Nakazawa’s powerful header sailed into the net from an Endo corner.

Kengo Nakamura sealed the win with two minutes remaining when he broke free in the area and blasted into the bottom right corner.

Thai coach Charnwit Polcheewin said his team never had a chance and the defeat showed the huge gap between Asian and Southeast Asian soccer, which the Thais have dominated for decades.

“We were under constant pressure in the first half, Japan played very well. We just couldn’t play, we were just kicking the ball away all the time,” Charnwit told reporters.

“We need to step up. We need to move to the next level. Our players are small, we struggle with the high ball. We need to start winning at Asian level.”