SEOUL, June 15: A hat trick in six minutes by Ado Onaiwu highlighted Japan’s 5-1 victory over Kyrgyzstan in Asian qualifying for the World Cup on Tuesday.
Group F winner Japan completed a perfect record of eight wins out of eight in the second round. The third round starts in September.
In his first international start, Onaiwu put Japan ahead in Osaka from the penalty spot after 27 minutes and quickly added two more.
Kyrgyzstan pulled a goal back just before the break thanks to a Mirlan Murzaev penalty, just the second Japan conceded in the group.
Sho Sasaki restored Japan’s three-goal cushion with 18 minutes remaining and Takuma Asano added a fifth five minutes later to take Japan’s total to 46 in the second round.
Japan has had a fantastic run throughout the 2022 Asian qualifiers for the World Cup.
Elsewhere, in Osaka, Tajikistan defeated Myanmar 4-0 to take second place in the group behind Japan and keep alive its hopes of moving to the third round as the one of the four best-performing runners-up. (AP)
