Japan put one foot through the door to the final round of World Cup qualifying with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Tajikistan on Friday.
Alberto Zaccheroni's side drew first blood late in the opening half through Yasuyuki Konno's first strike for Japan, and Shinji Okazaki added to the damage with a brace in the second half when Ryoichi Maeda also chipped in.
"The result was the most important thing today. We want to have already qualified for the final stage before we play our last game against Uzbekistan, so the win was crucial," Zaccheroni said.