Japan 3, Singapore 0
Hariss Harun of Singapore (left), and Yosuke Kashiwagi of Japan (centre), vie for the ball as Yuto Nagatomo of Japan (right), looks on during their second round soccer match of regional qualifiers for the
2018 World Cup, Nov 12, in Singapore. (AP)
Five minutes later Korea were awarded a penalty when striker Hwang Ui-jo was tripped in the box but defender Jang rattled the spotkick against the post and failed to direct the rebound into an empty net when the ball came fizzing back at his head.
The second goal arrived on the halfhour mark when Ji Dong-won exchanged passes with Ki before he crossed from the left and Koo Ja-cheol peeled away from his marker to head home.
The Koreans came out flat in the second half, seemingly content to hold the ball with little danger of Myanmar staging a fight back, and it was not until the introduction of Son Heung-min that they again started looking dangerous.
The Tottenham Hotspur forward, who is returning from a foot injury picked up in September, swung in a free-kick in the 82nd minute and right back Jang made up for his earlier penalty miss by heading home.
Son was at the heart of the Koreans’ fourth goal, exchanging quickfire passes with Nam and sending the Qatar-based midfielder through on goal to cap the scoring with four minutes left.
With second place Kuwait under a FIFA ban and their participation in doubt, a victory over lowly Laos on Tuesday could be enough for South Korea to book a spot at the 2019 Asian Cup.
Elsewhere, Thailand maintained their stranglehold of Group F by coming from behind to beat Taiwan 4-2 at home, while Yemen halted their run of five straight defeats in Group H by edging Philippines 1-0 in Manila.
North Korea still lead the group but Uzbekistan cut the gap to one point after coming from behind to win 3-1 in Tashkent.
In Singapore, an under-strength yet totally dominant Japan extracted the required revenge by cruising to a 3-0 victory over Singapore in their World Cup qualifier on Thursday.
Mu Kanazaki marked his first appearance for the Samurai Blue in five years with his first goal for his country in the 20th minute with Keisuke Honda and Maya Yoshida also notching in a lopsided contest at the National Stadium.
The victory moved Japan top of Group E with 13 points from five matches, with Singapore in third on 10 points ahead of next week’s crunch match at home to Syria (12 points) in the battle for second place in the five-team pool.
The eight group winners and four best runners-up will qualify for the 2019 Asian Cup and also advance to the third round of a lengthy World Cup qualifying campaign in Asia which will eventually provide four teams for Russia 2018.
Japan’s only slip up in qualifying so far was a 0-0 goalless draw at home to 152nd FIFA ranked Singapore in June and head coach Vahid Halihodzic said his side were out for revenge in Thursday’s return.
The coach left Shinji Kagawa and Shinji Okazaki on the bench but the absence of the two-European based players mattered little as Japan were quick into gear against hospitable hosts, who retreated and struggled to contain possession.
Singapore goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud had already made a number of smart stops before Kanazaki produced a brilliant finish to open the scoring.
Honda lobbing the ball into the area which Yoshinori Muto nodded down and the Kashima Antlers attacker, who is on loan from Portuguese side Portimonense, controlled on his chest before firing an unstoppable left foot effort past Izwan.
The Philippines' Javier Patino (top), is denied ball possession by Yemen's slide tackling Mudir Al-Radaei during the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2, the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia and AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 soccer match, Nov 12. Yemen won 1-0 denying
the Philippines a chance to qualify for the World Cup. (AP)
The goal rattled the hosts and they were quickly two behind. The Singapore backline failed to clear a ball into the area and Honda’s deflected shot went cruelly out of Izwan’s reach in the 26th minute.
Japan toyed with their opponents from then on with Izwan kept busy as the visitors easily created chances.
Their intensity did drop in the second period, though, and Singapore midfielder Muhammad Safuwan came close to pulling a goal back just after the hour mark but his header dropped just wide of the far post.
Halihodzic brought on the talented Takashi Usami and Kagawa for the final quarter of the game but it was central defender Yoshida who grabbed the third as he deflected Usami’s strike home in the 87th minute.
Australia’s next match is away to Bangladesh on Tuesday while Kyrgyzstan are home to Jordan.