JAPAN 3-0 CAMBODIA

Honda: We need to play better-  JAPAN

Japanese attacking midfielder Keisuke Honda believes that the national team need to raise their game even though they beat Cambodia 3-0 in their 2018 World Cup qualifier on Thursday.

Japanese attacking midfielder Keisuke Honda believes that the national team need to raise their game even though they beat Cambodia 3-0 in their 2018 World Cup qualifier on Thursday. 

After their first qualifier against Singapore ended as a 0-0 draw in June, Japan looked more focused against Cambodia and only needed 28 minutes to take the lead courtesy of Honda's shot from 20 yards out. 

Defender Maya Yoshida doubled Japan's lead in the 50th minute before BVB Dortmund midfielder Shinji Kagawa made up for missing an absolute sitter earlier on by firing the ball into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal in the 61st minute. 

Even though Japan walked away with a comfortable 3-0 win, Honda felt as if his side were nowhere near their best during the match. 

"We’re still not there yet, and we need to play better," Honda told reporters. "We are happy to get the win, but we can play better than that.

"We don’t have much time to practice and it’s not easy, but as much as we can we want to talk it through and improve. It’s important that we stay in good condition and give ourselves the best chance to play well."

Meanwhile, Vahid Halilhodzic was thrilled to have won his first game as Japan's manager, but conceded that Samurai Blue should have scored a lot more goals against Cambodia. 

"We scored three goals and of course we could have scored more," he said. "Hopefully in the next game we can do that.

"Our remaining games this year are all away, and we want to build on this win."

Japan's next World Cup qualifier will be against Afghanistan in Iran on September 8.

Saitama: Japan recovered from an indifferent start to register their first FIFA World Cup 2018 and AFC Asian Cup 2019 qualifying success on Thursday thanks to a 3-0 win over Cambodia in Saitama.

Japan’s victory, courtesy of goals from Keisuke Honda, Maya Yoshida and Shinji Kagawa, breathes much needed life back into a campaign that had sensationally failed to ignite following June’s goalless draw at home to Singapore in the four-time champions of Asia's Group E opener.   

The defeat meanwhile, leaves Cambodia rooted to the foot of the Group E table and without a point following previous defeats to Singapore and Afghanistan.

With the Samurai Blue faithful harbouring high hopes of a comfortable win ahead of the fixture, Japan were surprisingly slow to warm to the task in hand during a first half which saw Vahid Halilhodzic’s charges virtually camped in their opponents’ half.

Indeed, the home crowd were forced to wait until the 19th minute for Japan’s first chance, Leicester City striker Shinii Okazaki turning neatly in the box before firing narrowly wide of visiting goalkeeper Sou Yatay’s left hand post.

The breakthrough, however, came some nine minutes later, AC Milan ace Honda profiting from hesitant defending to fire home from 20 yards.

As an absorbing first period drew to a close, Kagawa was distinctly guilty of missing two glorious chances from close range, while Okazaki also failed to extend his side’s advantage when he was denied by a fine Yatay save.

Japan’s incessant pressing continued after the break, and they were duly rewarded for their persistence in the 50th minute when Yoshida drilled a shot past Yatay to calm any home nerves there may have been at a noisy Saitama Stadium.

With the visitors defending deeper and deeper, Japan, perhaps not surprisingly, were quick to add a third, Kagawa making amends for his earlier errors by sweeping the ball into the Cambodia net on 61 minutes.

Two further efforts from substitute Takashi Usami and a late Masato Morishige header that was cleared off the line, briefly threatened to add further gloss to a scoreline that will nevertheless hand Japan a major boost ahead of their September 8 trip to Tehran where they are set to face Afghanistan. 

The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.