Japan's march to the 2026 World Cup continued on Tuesday as Hajime Moriyasu's side handed China a 3-1 defeat in Xiamen while Iran eked out a late 3-2 win over Kyrgyzstan and South Korea were held to a 1-1 draw by Palestine.

Koki Ogawa scored on a pair of headers as Japan took another step toward the 2026 World Cup with a 3-1 win away to China that

Headers from Koki Ogawa and Ko Itakura put runaway group leaders Japan two goals up at half time before Lin Liangming pulled one back for China early in the second half.

Japan's march to the 2026 World Cup continued on Tuesday as Hajime Moriyasu's side handed China a 3-1 defeat in Xiamen to notch up a fifth win in Asia's third round of preliminaries while Saudi Arabia suffered a 2-0 loss against Indonesia.

Zhang Yuning (C) of China vies with Endo Wataru (L) and Machida Koki of Japan during the 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifier match between China and Japan in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, Nov. 19, 2024. (Xinhua/Wei Peiquan)

Japan is within touching distance of an eighth straight World Cup appearance after a 3-1 win over China put the team nine points clear of second-place Australia which drew 2-2 with Bahrain in their As

Japan moved to the cusp of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday as a 3-1 win over hosts China coupled with Australia's 2-2 draw in Bahrain took Hajime Moriyasu's side nine points clear in Group C of the third round of Asia's preliminaries.