Japan cruised past Syria on Tuesday with its second successive 5-0 win, as Hajime Moriyasu’s men remained on top of Group B in the Asian second-round qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
Takefusa Kubo’s 32nd-minute stunner opened the scoring and Ayase Ueda bagged a brace, while Yukinari Sugawara and Mao Hosoya also made it onto the scoresheet at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which hosted war-torn Syria’s home game.
Ueda’s sixth-minute shot from a tight angle was saved and a 24th-minute header from a corner was blocked before Kubo broke the deadlock with a superb hit after receiving the ball from right-winger Junya Ito. Kubo took a touch before rifling it into the right bottom corner from 25 meters out beyond diving Syria keeper Ibrahim Alma.