Japan will look to end 2024 on a winning note when they take on China in their Group C Asian World Cup qualifier in Xiamen on Tuesday evening. Since their Asian Cup quarterfinal loss to Iran in February, the Samurai Blue have won eight of their nine fixtures in the calendar year, and can finish it on a high by beating Branko Ivankovic’s men.
Japan come into this game on the back of a comfortable 4-0 win over Indonesia in Jakarta. The Indonesians, despite being bottom of the table, haven’t been pushovers at all, with draws against the likes of Australia, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain earlier in the group. However they were well-beaten here, and conceded four goals against the Japanese, having let in only 5 in their previous four qualifying fixtures.
The visitors’ Premier League based contingent played a big role in the triumph. The first goal came from a cross from Crystal Palace’s Daichi Kamada which was turned in by Justin Hubner for an own goal. Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma set up former Liverpool player Takumi Minamino for the second. Sporting Lisbon medio Hidemasa Morita netted the third after a mistake from the Indonesian keeper while Southampton defender Yukinari Sugawara made it 4-0 midway through the second half.
Japan have been excellent in this group, with four wins and a draw seeing them currently on top of the log with 13 points from 5 games. They’ve also been miserly defensively, having let in just one goal- the best record of the 18 teams in Asian qualifying as on date. The chasing pack in Group C- Australia, Saudi Arabia and China, are all already seven points behind Japan at the half-way stage.
Not surprisingly, a quick look at several local sportsbooks via BIJ suggests that the Samurai Blue will start strong favourites for this clash. Hajime Moriyasu’s team also hammered China 7-0 when the two sides met in September at the Saitama Stadium- a fixture that hurt China’s goal difference. Japan had as many as six different scorers on that evening, with Endo, Minamino, Mitoma, Ito, Maeda and Kubo all getting on the scoresheet.
China secured a stunning late win away at Bahrain a few days ago thanks to Zhang Yuning’s stoppage time winner. The result, coupled with their triumph over Indonesia in October, has breathed new life into their qualifying campaign that started with three disappointing losses.
As mentioned earlier, this is the last competitive fixture for the year for both teams- Asian qualifying will only resume in March next year. An unlikely victory for China will see the group being thrown open and will give Branko Ivankovic’s side a small measure of revenge for the embarrassing 7-0 loss at the hands of the same side.
The top two teams will automatically qualify for the World Cup, but teams 3 and 4 are not totally out of it as they’ll progress to the fourth round of qualifying, and that’s probably a more realistic goal for Ivankovic’s men in this tough group.